Costa Rican black soup

I was excited about the food for this week as while I was researching it, I found some very tasty dishes some of which were quite similar to Colombian dishes. I know surprisingly little about Cost Rica other than a friend recently visited and she thought it was super cool!

Much like the rest of South America, cuisine in Costa Rica is a blend of Native cuisine, mixed with the food that the Spanish colonisers and African slaves brought with them when Latin America was colonised. Without praising colonialism, its system introduced different spices, foods, and ideas to other cultures. We can see that influence in Mexican food — enriched by the Middle East. It is important to acknowledge the roots of where our food comes from and recognize that the food many of us eat and love is a celebration of these cultures coming together to form new national identities. Many of us are nowadays very proud of our “national dishes,” but do we actually now how other cultures influenced them?

I think finding out about where our food comes from is a very important part of also discovering our ancestry and ultimately our national identities. A ploughman’s lunch or a Cornish pasty are indicative of the kind of work our ancestors used to do, and an empanada in South America is indicative of colonialism. From discovering the cultural origin to what is traditionally grown in our countries – discovering food can be an enriching experience.

For this week I decided to cook Costa Rican black soup or sopa negra. A dish made from black beans and topped with boiled eggs, this protein rich dish is the ultimate comfort food and incredibly easy to make!

I have adapted this recipe slightly so I could make it with tinned blacked beans but thank you x for the inspiration.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

· 2 tins of black beans

· 6 cups of water

· 2 cloves of garlic smashed

· 1 small onion finely diced

· 1 tbsp oil

· 1 tsp salt

· Handful of fresh coriander

· 4 hard boiled eggs

· 1 tbsp Worcester sauce

Method:

1. Remove the stalks from the coriander and chop the leaves. Set both aside. (Optionally tie the stalks together with string, it will make fishing them out at the end a lot easier).

2. In a large saucepan add oil, onion and garlic. Sautee until the onion has softened. Drain the black beans and add to the saucepan along with the coriander stalks, water, Worcester sauce and salt. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 20 minutes until the beans are soft.

3. While the soup simmers boil the eggs for around 7-10 minutes depending on how firm you like them.

4. Peel the eggs and cut into quarters.

5. To serve: Place the soup into bowls and then add 4 egg quarters onto the soup. Garnish with the coriander leaves you set aside in step 1.