Monday 29 October 2012

Sponge pudding and spicy butter bean soup

Whilst the last batch of pasties was cooking on Saturday, I made a pudding using a basic Victoria sponge mix with a spoonful or two, of my friends Tangerine and Orange marmalade added for extra taste.

Two pears and one apple, which were all pot-marked and beginning to go soft, were then chopped and added and the whole thing baked. Being in an oblong dish meant the middle was still wobbly despite the whole thing being brown. The oven was switched off, the door propped open with a wooden spoon and it was left for 15 minutes whilst we ate our soup. That finished it off nicely, cooked without further browning. It was divided into 6 and will be enough for us for 3 puddings.


The spicy butter bean soup was delicious and will definitely be made again and again


It was very light and fragrant. Here is the original recipe and my proposed adaptation of it.

SPICED BUTTER BEAN SOUP - Packet Recipe

200g of dried butter beans soaked overnight, then cooked according to packet instruction.**
1 tsp whole cumin seeds and 1 tsp whole coriander seeds, crushed.**
2 tablespoons oil.
1 diced onion.
2 cloves of garlic, crushed.*
1 green chilli, diced.
1 leek, sliced.
1 medium - large carrot, diced.
4 rashers streaky bacon (smoked if you wish) diced.
700 ml vegetable stock using 1 1/2 cubes.* 

** My thoughts were that you could save time by exchanging the dried beans for 2 or 3 cans of butter beans, drained. However, I used dried on this occasion.
** I don't like crushed coriander seeds so we exchanged both the seeds for 1/2 tsp each of ground seeds. 
* I used 3" length of garlic in a tube. 
* Finally, we used chicken stock. 

METHOD

Drain the cooked butter beans (cooked in fresh water until done but not too mushy as they will be cooked further).

Add the whole seeds to a dry pan and when they begin to spit, add the oil. We fried the ground seeds in the oil.

Fry the onion and bacon until softened, (next time I will cook them until lightly browned but not burnt), then add the chilli and garlic for a few minutes to cook through.

Add the leek, carrot, beans and stock. Bring to the boil then simmer until the vegetables are tender - around 20 mintues. 

Liquidise when cool enough to do so or a stick blender can be used straight away.

Season with salt and pepper.  We also added some dried sage to taste.

 

5 comments:

  1. great minds think alike!!! The soup sounds good and it looks yummy too.

    Gill

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  2. I love butter beans and am definitely going to have a go at this one (with vegan bacon mind you!). Thanks for another great recipe xxx

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  3. I'm not really sure the bacon adds much to the flavour. x

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  4. Both the sponge pudding and the soup looks yummy, and thanks for the recipe :)

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  5. Thank you and you are welcome Hilde.

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