Ten Bean Soup

Update (April 23, 2009): Featured as one of the Best Meals of the Week on Whole Foods: http://blog.wholefoodsmarket.com/2009/04/share-your-best-meal-of-the-week-3/

This is one of those minimal effort, but patience required, very healthy recipes. It’s very simple to put together, but you get rewarded for the efforts the following day. Yeah, a whole day! coz I make this in my crock pot. I think making this any other way does no justice to the savory flavors.

The ten beans usually are available in specialty food stores like Whole Foods, Wild Oats, Sprouts in their bulk section. If you can’t find them there, then mix and match your own beans, like black beans, black eyed peas, split beans (both green and yellow), red lentils, pinto beans, kidney beans, garbanzo, lima beans, any lentils …. basically anything you like.

Ten Bean Soup

Ten Bean Soup

Ingredients to Serve 4

• 1 cup of Ten Beans
• 4 stalks of celery
• 2 big vine tomatoes
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1 small or 1/2 big red onion
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 4 cups of water
• Salt to taste

Pick out anything that does not look like a bean or a lentil from the bean mix.

Give the beans a quick wash and soak them in water overnight or all day, the point being for around 8 hours. Make sure you soak them in a vessel that can hold atleast 3 times the beans because they swell and will need more space.

Drain the water they were soaking in and give them a another quick wash.

Chop all the vegetables to 1 inch pieces.

Throw in all the ingredients, i.e. the beans, vegetables, spices, salt and water in a crock pot. Let it cook slow and nice for the next 10 hours on low heat.

That’s it. In 10 hours you will have the most delicious and healthy soup, where every little bean will raid your palate with a riot of flavors as it slowly melts in your mouth. Yum!

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