Sopa de Frijoles

My main mission in Honduras, after visiting my friends, etc., was to learn how to make a bunch of Honduran food.  I love Honduran food myself, but my husby really loves it and misses it after months and months of American food (or Indian food or Chinese food or any other food that's not Honduran).  I remember those days in Honduras, when I would crave something like couscous or Kraft Mac and Cheese - things that were non-existant in Honduras.  I'd find myself in the only air-conditioned restaurant in Choluteca: Wendy's.  Yup, the fast-food chain.  Wendy's never tasted as yummy as it did in Honduras!

So, I figured I could share a few of my attempts at re-cooking the Honduran food I cooked in my Honduran sister's kitchen.  First on the list was Sopa de Frijoles (Red Bean Soup).  Hondurans eat a lot of soup, which surprised me since it's so hot.  It took me a while to become accustomed to eating hot soup when it was 100* out.  However, back home in Maryland it is NOT 100* right now so Sopa de Frijoles sounded just right.

The only annoying part from this entire experience was hubsters trying to tell me what to do and insisting that he knew how to cook it - even though I'm sure he can count the minutes he's spent in the kitchen on one hand.

So, here's the recipe (although like a true Honduran, there is no measuring...so just go with your gut!):




One serving of soup - I love the eggs so I put lots of them in - it is not normal


Sopa de Frijoles

1. First, sort the beans.  I used small red beans but you can only find these in Latino stores and they are usually imported from El Salvador.  They are very different from kidney beans.  You might be able to use black beans but I've never tried it.  Even if you buy the beans and they are packaged it's a good idea to sort them and pick out ones that look funny or are cracked or shrivelled.
2. After you have a good amount of beans (maybe two cups or so, depending how many days you want to eat soup), wash them in cold water.  You'll notice a few beans that float to the top - these are bad beans so just pick them out and throw them away.  I have no idea why they are bad, but I follow directions and throw them out.
3. Start boiling the water - a big pot full.
4. When the water is BOILING, add the beans.  If you add beans before the water is boiling they shrivel and never fill out again.
5. After you add the beans, cut up large chunks of garlic.  I put about 2-3 cloves in and cut each clove in half or so.  I really only do this because hubster hates garlic and I need to be able to see it so I can throw it away before he realizes it's in there.  If you like garlic you can mince it or whatever.
6. Cook the beans until they are nice and soft.  This usually takes 1-2 hours, depending on how many beans you decided to cook.  Keep adding water so that it remains about the same as when you started - you can usually tell because a ring of dried bean juice sticks to the pot.
7. When the beans are almost soft, add salt.  If you add the salt at the beginning it makes the beans kinda tough so wait until they are almost done.  You can add as much or as little salt as you like, but if you want real Honduran beans, you need to add a lot of salt.  I added about 1-2 tablespoons.
8. Stir the beans very softly - they are delicate and will break.
9. Continue to boil the beans.
10. Cut up some onions (maybe 1/4 or so), green peppers (I'd say about about half), and cilantro (as much as you want).  I cut the vegetables into large chunks, like juilienned, but you can cut them up however you like.
11. Now, pour all the bean water into another pot and put in some cooked beans (maybe two cups or so depending on how much water you have - I'd say put in about 1/4 of the beans that you have).  If pouring the water is too annoying, you can do what I did - I removed the beans from the water and put them in the fridge.
12. The beans that you don't use in the soup can then be eaten separately - I like to make refried beans out of them.  Sopa de fijoles is mainly the bean broth, not necessarily a tons of beans.  This is why you remove most of the beans and eat them later, you want mainly broth for the soup.
13. Continue heating up the bean water and add the onions, green peppers, and cilantro.
14. When the bean water is boiling, add "especias" or cumin, black pepper, and dried oregano.  In Honduras this is called Comino con Pimiento but it's the same thing.
15. Then beat one or two eggs and pour it into the boiling bean water.  When the egg is cooked (looks similar to the eggs in egg drop soup), crack a few eggs over the soup so that they poach in the soup.  I usually make sure that each person that is eating gets a whole egg.  Then continue to boil the soup until the eggs are cooked.
16. Eat up the soup!  Usually you put some rice on the bottom of a bowl (I made Honduran rice, but that recipe is for another day), then put some beans and veggies from the soup along with an egg, then scoop out the water and fill the bowl with the broth.



That is the poached egg - my favorite part!  The yolk is cooked all the way through.



I'm not sure how complicated that sounds, but it's not really too difficult.  It just takes a while because the beans take a while to cook.  However, after that, it goes pretty fast.  Plus, you have an entire container of yummy beans to eat at a later time.

Feel free to email me with any questions - and sorry for the poor quality photos - I am not a very good photographer!