Beef and Black Bean Soup with Garlic

A simple and delicious soup made with some left over silverside beef, dried black beans, a leek, garlic, plus beef and vegetable stock.

A medium handful of dried black beans were soaked in cold water overnight. One leek was cut lengthwise into four strips, and then diced crosswise. The leek was cooked in a little sunflower oil at a medium heat, stirring frequently, for fifteen minutes or so, until it began to brown.

After that I added about two thirds of a pint of water to the pan, and the black beans. The combination was simmered under glass for an hour and a half. Stir occasionally. Then blitz the soup ingredients with an electric blender for at least two minutes.

Add a medium squirt of tomato puree, and four cloves of garlic, diced. Stir together, and increase the heat.

Remove any fat attached to the beef, and dice into short strips. Add to the pan and stir in thoroughly. Cook for another twenty minutes or so, at a low heat, before serving. An option is to add a little turmeric to the soup base, for a little extra bite. The flavour and texture of the soup base complements the beef wonderfully. I could have cheated by using a pre-made garlic and black bean sauce, but I wanted to know what came out when I made such a sauce from scratch.