WILD PINTO BEAN SOUP with fried garlic tortillas

WILD PINTO BEAN SOUP with fried garlic tortillas

Pow! Wow! Flavors and textures galore! If you want to impress guests with a soup so wild that they won’t know if they’re eating meat or not, and won’t care, this is it!

Makes 20 cups

Soup:

2 c. dried pinto beans

9 c. water

2 t. baking soda

1/3 c. dried barley

3 c. additional water

2 t. salt

1 c. wild rice

1/2 c. TVP (textured vegetable protein)

4 c. additional water

1 c. long grain parboiled (polished) rice

10-3/4 oz. can condensed tomato soup

1/4 c. prepared yellow mustard

2 T. Balsamic vinegar

1/2 c. ketchup

1/4 c. light brown sugar

1 T. onion powder

1 T. chili powder

1 T. ground coriander

1 T. cumin

2 t. ground fennel seed

1 t. cinnamon

1 t. paprika

1 t. ground allspice

1 t. ground rosemary

1/2 t. red pepper flakes

1 t. black pepper

1 T. liquid smoke

2 t. additional salt, then to taste

1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil

2, 32 oz. cartons vegetable broth (I used Swanson brand)

In extra-large soup pot combine pinto beans, water and baking soda. Bring to boil, cover, reduce heat to a slow boil. cook 1 hour.

Add barley, stir, cover and cook on low heat for 30 minutes.

Add 3 c. additional water and salt. Bring to boil, then add wild rice and TVP. Stir, then cook on medium heat for 1 hour or till rice is tender.

Add 4 c. additional water and condensed tomato soup. Stir well.

Bring to soft boil, add long grain parboiled rice, stir. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and cook 30 minutes or till rice is tender.

Continue to cook on low heat while you add the remaining soup ingredients, from the mustard to the vegetable broth, stirring and whisking with a wire whisk after each addition to incorporate them evenly throughout the soup.

Keep on low heat about 15 minutes longer, then turn heat off till ready to reheat and serve.

Notes: There’s no slicing and dicing required for this soup, so although cooking time is 2-3/4 hours, the other work is minimal, allowing you to do other things while the soup cooks.

You might be tempted to put all the water in at once with all the ingredients. Don’t. Respect the process and you’ll achieve great results!

The beans will mush up, which is what we want. The initial adding of the baking soda speeds up the process.

Fried tortillas:

8 inch flour tortillas, as many as you want

paprika

garlic powder

salt

extra virgin olive oil for frying

For each flour tortilla, sprinkle lightly on one side only with paprika, garlic powder and salt. Go easy with the salt, too much will ruin the flavor achievement.

Drizzle a little olive oil into a skillet over medium heat. When the oil is hot, place each tortilla – spice side down – in skillet and cook till golden. Flip over and cook the other side the same way. This won’t take but a few seconds on each side. Transfer to plate and repeat the process for as many tortillas as you want.

Cut each fried tortilla into 12 wedges. Ladle soup into individual bowls, then place tortilla wedges pointed edge halfway into the soup equidistant from each other. Use as many or as few per bowl as you like.

Notes: I like the taste of browned garlic on tortillas, if you don’t, then fry the tortillas with the paprika and salt, then sprinkle with a little garlic powder after you remove the tortilla from the skillet.