Black Bean Soup

Ingredients

• 4 ounce chiles green drained chopped canned
• 6 ounces black beans dried
• 1  garlic clove minced
• 0.3 teaspoon ground cumin 
• 0.3 teaspoon ground pepper red
• 3 large hard-cooked eggs coarsely chopped
• 1 teaspoon olive oil 
• 0.3 cup onion chopped
• 0.5 teaspoon oregano dried
• 0.4 teaspoon salt 
• 0.3 cup tomato paste 
• 14 ounce vegetable broth organic canned
• 2.5 cups water 

Equipment

• bowl
• frying pan
• ladle
• blender
• dutch oven

Directions

1. Sort and wash beans; place in a large Dutch oven. Cover with water to 2 inches above beans; bring to a boil. Cook 2 minutes; remove from heat. Cover and let stand 1 hour.
2. Drain beans.
3. Heat the olive oil in pan over medium-high heat.
4. Add onion and garlic to pan; saut for 3 minutes or until tender.
5. Add beans, 2 1/2 cups water, oregano, red pepper, cumin, broth, and chiles; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 1 1/2 hours or until beans are tender.
6. Place half of bean mixture in a blender.
7. Remove center piece of blender lid (to allow steam to escape); secure blender lid on blender.
8. Place a clean towel over opening in blender lid (to avoid splatters). Blend until smooth.
9. Pour pureed soup into a bowl. Repeat procedure with remaining soup. Return to pan. Stir in tomato paste and salt; cook 3 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Ladle 1 1/4 cups soup into each of 4 bowls; top each serving with about 1/3 cup chopped eggs.
10. Sprinkle each serving with chopped fresh cilantro, if desired.