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Vegan Spanish Black Bean Soup

A hearty vegan soup made with black beans, onion, garlic, cumin, chili powder, bay leaves, cilantro, and optional dry sherry.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Beans and cumin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,188 recipes. Both carry linalool, which smells floral, citrus. The science ↓

Vegan Spanish Black Bean Soup

Timeten minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Puree two cans of black beans in a blender and set aside.

Make the soup

  1. Sauté the chopped onion and garlic in a medium-sized pot over medium heat for about five minutes.

  2. Add salt, pepper, and a splash of dry sherry.

  3. Add the pureed black beans, the remaining two cans of whole beans, ground cumin, chili powder, bay leaves, and chopped cilantro, and stir.

  4. Add more salt and pepper if needed.

  5. Lower the heat and let the soup simmer for ten minutes.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

212Calories
10 gProtein
2 gFat
36 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 10 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Black Bean1/2 cup canned (120g) drained114
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Wine2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)25
Cumin1 tsp ground (2.1g)8
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Bay Leaf1 leaf (0.6g)2
Cilantro1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Beans + cumintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,188 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  2. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Garlic + cumintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,082 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Clove + cumintop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,306 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Black beans
Provide the main body of the soup, with pureed beans thickening it and whole beans adding texture.
Yellow onion
Builds a sweet, savory aromatic base when sautéed.
Garlic
Adds pungent aroma that mellows and sweetens as it cooks.
Ground cumin
Contributes warm, earthy aroma that deepens during simmering.

The step that matters

Puree two cans of black beans. Blending part of the beans releases starch and creates a creamy body; too little puree leaves the soup thin and watery, while too much makes it pasty.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beans, onion, garlic, cumin, sherry, pepper):

  1. Turmericfits better
  2. Oreganofits better
  3. Corianderfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beans, onion, garlic, cumin, sherry, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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