Recipe - Southwestern Vegetarian Black Bean Soup

1 pound Dried black beans
One half cup Water
One half ounce Chipotle pepper, dried
2 tablespoon Vegetable oil
1 One half cup Onion, chopped
Three fourths cup Carrot, chopped
Three fourths cup Celery, chopped
Three fourths cup Green bell pepper, chopped
Three fourths cup Red bell pepper, chopped
2 Cloves garlic, minced
3 One half cup Vegetable broth, canned
1 cup Cooking sherry
2 tablespoon Ground cumin
1 tablespoon Chili powder
1 tablespoon Dried oregano
2 tablespoon Honey
One half teaspoon Salt
One half teaspoon Ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon Pepper
29 ounce Tomatoes, canned, minced ,
undrained
1 Bay leaf
7 tablespoon Fatfree sour cream
Cilantro sprigs (optional)

Sort and wash beans; place in a large Dutch oven. Cover with water to 2
inches above beans; bring to a boil, and cook 2 minutes. Remove from heat;
cover and let stand 1 hour. Drain beans in a colander; set aside.

Combine One half cup water and chile in a small saucepan; bring to a boil. Remove
water and chile from heat; cover and let stand 10 minutes or until chile is
softened. Place water and chile in a food processor, and process 1 minute
or until smooth. Set chile puree aside.

Heat oil in a Dutch oven over mediumhigh heat. Add onion and next 5
ingredients (onion through garlic); saute 7 minutes. Add beans, 2
tablespoons chile puree, broth, and next 10 ingredients (broth through bay
leaf); bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 2 hours. Discard bay
leaf.

Remove 4 cups of beans and vegetables from soup with a slotted spoon; set
aside. Place half of remaining soup in a blender; process until smooth, and
pour into a bowl. Repeat procedure with other half of soup. Return pureed
soup to pan and stir in 4 cups of beanvegetable mixture. Cook soup over
mediumlow heat until thoroughly heated. Ladle soup into individual bowls;
top with sour cream and garnish with cilantro, if desired. Serve with
remaining chile puree, if desired.

Yield 7 servings (serving size: 1 One half cups soup and 1 tablespoon sour
cream).

Recipe by: Cooking Light YEAR: 1995 ISSUE: Nov/Dec PAGE: 110 Posted to
MCRecipe Digest V1 #610 by Terry & Kathleen Schuller
schuller@ix.netcom.com on May 13, 1997