Luscious legumes, indeed

Sitting in the student lounge scarfing down hot, flavorful soup, it seems almost cruel not to share the recipe. The people to my left are playing foosball and pool; the women to my right are studying; others wander around in short white coats (short coats indicate students, not yet MDs). It's low-key.

Black bean soup:

• 1/2 bag dried black beans, reconstituted, or 2 cans of black beans
• 1 onion, roughly chopped
• 2-3 cloves garlic, peeled but whole
• 1 celery rib, in half
• 1 chopped carrot, optional (will make the soup sweeter)
• 3-4 tbsp ground cumin
• chili flakes
• salt
• canola oil

Heat the oil in a large post, then add onion, garlic, celery, and spices, and saute until soft. Add carrots and beans, then cover with lots of water and simmer for about an hour (enough time to watch one lecture). Puree with an immersion blender (or a food processor) such that the soup is about half whole beans, half pureed beans. Season with salt and more spice, and continue to boil off water as necessary to thicken the soup. This is hearty enough on it's own, but you could also serve it on top of quinoa or brown rice, or garnish it with some cilantro, hot sauce, and/or shredded cheese.

You'll notice a theme to these recipes: this is not that different from the chicken-chickpea curry below. To make split pea soup, skip the spices and use dried split peas -- otherwise the recipe is the same. For white bean soup I skip all the vegetables and increase the amount of garlic to about half a head... etc. So easy even a med student can do it!