Wholesome Quinoa & Black- eyed beans Mexican style soup- vegan, gluten free.

Quinoa, my favorite pseudo cereal that I try to create many family dinners with, because of it’s nutrition content.

Recently, I had the opportunity of tasting ‘pozole’ a traditional Mexican stew made with tomatillos, cilantro, pumpkin seeds, hominy ( dried maize kernels) and usually with meat/ shrimp. The flavors were fresh, very invigorating and I could not wait to experiment on those lines, but with the wonderful beans, and quinoa to amp up the nutrition to make it a wholesome vegan dish.

The aroma of loads of cilantro added in this dish, along with the slight tanginess from tomatillo/lime, the spice of chilies, and the fullness of beans with richness of quinoa, make it an awesome soup for any time of the year.

Once you have the beans and quinoa cooked, it only takes 20 min or so and in one pot, my preferred way always. Try it and you will definitely want to experiment different variations with it.

Wholesome Quinoa and black eyed beans Mexican inspired soup

Fresh, zingy, hearty and nutritious way to being together black eyed beans and quinoa.

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Prep Time 6 hours hrs

Cook Time 25 minutes mins

Servings: 6 people

Course: Soup

Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients

  

• 1 1/2 cup quinoa – soak for one hour
• 1 1/2 cup black eyed beans – soak for 4-6 hours
• 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
• 8 small tomatillos or green tomatoes
• 2 cups cilantro roughly chopped with stems included
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2-3 green chilies or serrano peppers or jalapeno peppers per your spice preferance
• 1/2 cup sliced red onion or shallots
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 1 tsp black pepper powder
• 1 Tbsp salt
• 1 Tbsp oil
• 2 Tbsp lime juice

Toppings

• chopped avocado-highly recommended
• chopped cucumbers
• hemp hearts
• tortilla chips or papadum

Equipment

• Pressure cooker
• blender or food processor

Method

 

Cooking quinoa

1. Soak quinoa for one hour, in water. Then drain it. Now add it to a pot with about 4 cups water. On medium heat, with lid on, let it cook for 10 min. Take the lid off and let it cook for about 10-15 min, till quinoa fluffs up. Set it aside.

Cooking black eyed beans if using raw beans

1. If using raw beans, soak them for 4-6 hours in water. It is easy digest beans that are soaked and cooked. For cooking them, you can use pressure cooker or instant pot.

   Using stove top pressure cooker- add about one cup water to the beans and let them cook for 3 whistles on medium heat. Wait till it cools down and depressurizes.

   Using instant pot- Add one cup water to the beans, and let them cook on pressure mode for 12 min and wait till it cools down after completing the cycle. Don't force it to open.

   Set the cooked beans aside.

   If using canned beans, please rinse and drain well before using them.

Making the green soup base

1. Get the tomatillos, chilies, cilantro, pumpkin seeds ready. Don't forget to soak pumpkin seeds for atleast 30 min.
   
2. In a soup pot on medium heat, add oil. Once hot, add tomatillos, garlic, onion, green chilies or peppers of your choice. Saute for 3-4 min. Then add cilantro- more the merrier. Enjoy the invigorating aroma at this stage.

   Add all the soup pot contents into the blender jar and blitz until smooth consistency is attained.
   

Bringing it all together.

1. Take the blender contents back into the soup pot. On medium heat, add the rest of stock. You can add half stock, half water if you want. Add the cumin, black pepper and salt. Adjust spices, salt per your taste. Simmer from now on.
   
2. Add the cooked beans and quinoa , mix well. Simmer for 15-20 min. Add some more chopped cilantro.
   
3. Serve in a bowl and garnish with chopped avocado, cucumber slices, hemp hearts, tortilla chips, lime wedges.
   

Notes

You can use chick peas instead of black eyed beans. If beans are not your forte, add corn.

Also instead of quinoa , you can try millet or even rice. I prefer quinoa with it’s complete protein and better nutrition profile.