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Pressure Cooker Nettle and Black Eyed Beans Soup
Pressure Cooker Nettle and Black Eyed Beans Soup
"It’s summer!! since yesterday, right? A good old hearty soup is always welcome, do you agree? Besides, this soup is actually my favorite served cold and in a hot day even served straight from the fridge. As a kid, I enjoyed this a lot and always found it as a refreshing meal during summer days. This year I was lucky enough to get some nice fresh nettles picked by my very good friend Otilia, she was so kind and sweet to even make an extra journey coming from work on a truly miserable weather, just to drop those freshly picked and beautiful nettles."
Notes* this recipe asks for 350 g of black eyed beans dry weight or 600 g of canned beans
* the fresh nettles are a very seasonal ingredient but you can replace these with spinach, chard or dry nettles that can be found in wholefood shops.
* I mentioned about de-pressurising the cooker manually. This operation can be tricky so unless you know exactly what you doing be very careful as this can be quite dangerous and you can burn yourself. Always read carefully the instructions before using a pressure cooker as there are some rules that come with it in terms of liquid levels and so on. I grew up with one so I’m quite confident when it comes to working with it especially when I don’t have the time to wait for it to settle. Always a rush, hey?! Well, that definitely almost always the case with me. Always something to do, somewhere to go, someone waiting for something to be done. Ha ha. Life is beautiful.
* This soup can be served hot or cold with a sprinkle of freshly ground pepper or some freshly chopped red chili and of course some rustic homemade crusty bread. Enjoy!
Serves4 People
Preparation Time10 min
Cooking Time50 min
Ingredients
- 350 g Black eyed beans *
- 100 g fresh baby nettles
- 1 medium onion
- 1 tiny leek
- 1 small red pointed pepper
- 1 medium carrot
- 1 parsnip
- 1-2 celery stick
- 1 tbsp tomato paste organic
- 1 can chopped tomato
Instruction
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No need to do all the overnight soaking business when using a pressure cooker. Oh, can’t tell you when it comes to dishes like this - I so cannot do without my pressure cooker- it makes my life 1 million times easier reducing the cooking time to 1/3. Seriously.
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Cook the beans according to the package instructions. Canned beans can also be used. I cook them in pressure cooker for at a 15 min setting. No whistle.
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When finished with cooking the beans carefully release the pressure or allow 15-20 min for pressure to go down so you can remove the lid.
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Meanwhile, peel, wash and chop the onions and the carrot, wash and chop the leek, pepper and the parsnip.
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Add all the vegetables nicely chopped to the cooked beans. Add some vegetable stock or water if there isn’t sufficient liquid. You should have approximately 1 litre of liquid.
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Put the bay leaves and the thyme in, the tomato paste and the chopped tomato can, salt and pepper.
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Place the lid back on and cook for a further 10min under pressure.
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Release the pressure * or allow it to rest until the lid can be safely removed. Remove the lead and set back on cooking for another 15 minutes. Add the turmeric and cook uncovered so that the soup juice reduces slightly. This also helps with the soup getting a nice colour.
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In the last five minutes of cooking add the washed and slightly chopped nettles along with the fresh herbs such as lovage, parsley or even some fresh basil what ever you may fancy, like or have handy. Any herb will be nice. Delicious.
