Scrumptious South Africa

This is a great recipe for feeding a hungry horde of teens on a shoestring, because it uses only 600 g of lean mince and is thickened with nutritious (but cunningly concealed) tinned beans, which are the perfect fibre and energy food for teens.  This is an older recipe from my blog, but because I’ve made it twice in a week (they gobbled it up and demanded more), I thought I’d share it with you. 

If you’re a vegetarian, leave out the mince, or use soya mince. 

It’s called Blend-Ahead because it’s puréed before it’s cooked. (This is yet another variation on my beloved four-tin, ten-minute curry soup and is, essentially, a very liquid beef chilli).

There are a lot of ingredients, and a long cooking time, but the soup takes less than 15 minutes to prepare. Oh, and did I mention that it is delicious and addictive? 

Blend-Ahead Spicy Mince, Bean and Tomato Soup

2 T (30 ml) sunflower or olive oil

3 onions, peeled and roughly chopped

600 g lean minced beef

6 large, ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped

1 tin good tinned tomatoes, and their juice

3 cloves fresh garlic, peeled and roughly chopped

1 tin butter or kidney beans, and their liquid (see notes)

1 tin baked beans in tomato sauce

2 T (30 ml) mild curry powder

2 T (30 ml) powdered cumin

1 T (15 ml) powdered coriander

1 tsp (5 ml) Tabasco sauce

1 tsp (5 ml) chilli powder [optional; to taste]

4 T (60 ml) tomato sauce or 30 ml tomato paste

1.25 litres (5 cups) vegetable stock, chicken stock or water

salt and freshly ground black pepper

200 ml coconut milk (low-fat, if you can find it)

To serve:

a dollop of thick natural  yoghurt, chopped coriander and a few dabs of olive oil, plus anything else you fancy: grated cheddar, chopped spring onions, fresh green chillies, and so on

Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Put the onions in the goblet of a liquidizer fitted with a metal blade and whiz until very finely chopped. Fry the onions in the oil until they are softened and beginning to turn golden. Turn up the heat and add the mince, stirring with a fork to break up any lumps. While the mince is browning, put the tomatoes, the tin of tomatoes, the garlic and the tinned beans and their liquid into the liquidizer. Process until  fine.

Tip the cooked mince and onions into a metal sieve set over a bowl and press down with a fork to drain off excess fat. Now tip them back into the pot and add the ingredients you’ve just liquidised.

Add all the remaining ingredients, except for the coconut milk, and use a balloon whisk to combine everything and break up any stubborns lumps of beef. Bring to the boil, and then immediately turn down the heat. Cook over a moderate to low heat for about an hour and a half, stirring now and then to prevent sticking, and skimming off the foam as it rises. If the soup seems too thick, add a little more stock or water to thin it down. It’s important not to rush the cooking: the beef should melt into tender granules and the soup needs time to thicken. Stir in the coconut milk and serve very hot, with the cool and crunchy toppings.

Serves eight.

Notes:

• Any tinned bean and its juice will do, but this is my favourite combination
• Add a tin of sweetcorn kernels or chickpeas, or lentils, if you’d like to add even more bulk.
• You can use an equal quantity of tinned tomatoes instead of fresh ones, but the flavour somehow isn’t the same.
• You can also use dried beans in this recipe, but you will need to soak them and boil them in advance. Remember not to add any salt to the boiling water, which will toughen the beans.

Find more of my original recipes at Scrumptious South Africa

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© Jane-Anne Hobbs 2007-2011. You may not reproduce this material without my written consent