I decided to make a soup out of beans that I have hardly ever used before. So I went along to the Middle Eastern Store and bought Great Northern beans, red kidney beans, lentils, chickpeas and I noticed on the shelf some dried Lupini beans. I thought that they looked very interesting – much the same ‘looking’ as lima beans, or so I thought!
Well I soaked all the beans overnight, and the next day I began to make my soup. After adding all the requirements, I allowed the soup to simmer for about 1 ½ hours and then I tried it. It was the most sour horribly tasting soup that I’ve ever had. So I thought – what have I put in the soup that would make it so horribly tasting, and I finally honed this down to the Lupini beans - I better go to the internet, to find out more about Lupini beans.
Well I got a shock because I thought Lupini beans were the much the same as Lima beans. But Lupini beans have got alkaloids in them which are slightly poisonous, and when leached out make the water/soup completely sour. The thing you must do when preparing Lupini beans, is to change the bathing water every day, for about 5 days; boil up the beans; change the water again and then the Lupini beans become a very tasty addition to the menu! This ‘after the event’ knowledge on what to do with Lupini beans makes me wary that if I ever come across an ingredient that I don’t know what it is or does – I will always go the internet first and look up the ingredient!
For those of you that may be interested – there are in excess of 100 bean types that may be used in cooking – I bet that you have only come across perhaps a dozen of these types!
So, to get back to the recipe!
Ingredients:
Step 1 - Fig 1, Fig 2, Fig 3 and Fig 4
200 gm of chickpeas – soaked overnight
200 gm of red kidney beans – soaked overnight
200 gm of yellow lentils - soaked overnight
Fig 1 - red kidney beans; lentils; and chickpeas
Fig 2 - 200 gm each of the red kidney beans; the lentils and the chickpeas
Fig 3 - the beans are immesed in water and kept like this overnight
Fig 4 - engorged beans after an overnight soaking
Step 2
1 brown onion
3 potatoes - Fig 5; Fig 8
vegetable stock cube
Fig 5 - three potatoes are used
Preparation:
Step 1
The following day, the beans are brought to a boil over a low flame for about 30 minutes - this gets rid of the starch that comes out of these beans Fig 6.
Fig 6 - as the water boils, white starch like material comes to the surface which is skimmed off
Step 2
2 tablespoons of olive oil are then placed in a saucepan, and a finely chopped up onion is fried gently - Fig 7. Three potatoes that have been peeled and diced up roughly, together with the boiled beans, a vegetable stock cube and enough water to fully cover the contents of the saucepan - Fig 9. I then add some pepper and salt, and allow the mixture to slowly simmer for about 1 ½ hours, by which time all the beans are tender and the soup is ready to eat.
Fig 7 - the onion is gently fried in olive oil
Fig 8 - the diced potato is ready to add to the mixture
Fig 9 - all the ingredients and the water are added, and the mixture is left to slowly simmer for 1 1/2 hours
Fig 10 - the final soup ready in a bowl to eat - yum!
Presentation:
Two bowls of this yummy soup together with crusty bread makes a very nice meal!
