Puerto Rican-Style Bean Soup with “polenta” pita

porto rico beans soup

No, I haven’t been to Porto Rico, but I’ve been inspired by their great black bean soup! While I was looking for the best recipe on the web I’ve stolen the most from Jamie Oliver and put some spice into it. As my girlfriend is on a gluten-free diet I also made a grilled “polenta” pita (own invention as the tortillas I bought in a store were, for my surprise, made of wheat flour). I’m very proud of this “polenta” pita as it was my very first invention, and it was GREAT! By the way, the whole meal was wonderful (except the photo, I was too hungry to take my time). Here’s my recipe:

Puerto Rican-Style Bean Soup with grilled "polenta" pita
Serves 2
Total Time
45 min
Total Time
45 min
For the bean soup
  1. 2 sticks celery
  2. 2 tbsp olive oil
  3. 2 garlic gloves
  4. 2 tbsp fresh thyme (dried is also good)
  5. 2 bay leaves
  6. 2 red onions
  7. Half a chili
  8. 2 peppers (different colors if possible)
  9. 3 tbsp cilantro
  10. One good pinch of salt
  11. 600g beans in their juice (I used three types of beans 200g each, but you can put just one type)
  12. 300ml water
  13. 2 eggs (optional)
For the salsa
  1. 3 tbsp cilantro
  2. 1 chili
  3. Juice from one lime
  4. 1 tbsp olive oil
  5. For the grilled "polenta" pita
  6. Polenta (corn flour) - around 100g
  7. Water
  8. Salt
Instructions
  1. 1. Preheat the oven at 250°C
  2. 2. For the soup put a pan over medium heat and add the olive oil. Chop the celery sticks in to 1cm dices and add to the pan once the olive oil is hot. While the celery cooks, finely chop the garlic and add to the pan. Mix in the fresh thyme and the bay leaves and let them on fire while you are finely slicing the onions. Add the onions and start chopping the chili and the peppers (1 cm chunks). Add them to the pan with a good pinch of salt and let sweat for around 10 minutes.
  3. 3. In the meantime you can prepare the salsa. In a bowl, mix the finely chopped cilantro with the finely chopped chili, add the lime juice and the olive oil, mix up and step aside.
  4. 4. Get back to the pan and when the peppers are soft stir in the beans with their juice and the water. Get the fire on maximum and let boil for 10 minutes.
  5. 5. While the beans are cooking prepare the polenta following the instructions on the pack. When the polenta is ready, spread it on a backing sheet (thick as you like, mine was almost 1 cm thick), then put into the oven under the grill for 10 minutes on each side)
  6. 6. Get back to the pan and lower the fire to the minimum.You can use a hand blender for 5 seconds to give some smoothness to the soup (after taking out the bay leaves)
  7. 7. Optional. You can serve it with fried or poached eggs. For the poached eggs you don't need a different pan, just break the eggs into the soup while on low temperature and not boiling anymore. They will poach slowly but keep an eye on it, it can take from 7 to 15 minutes (don't forget they will continue to cook after you serve.
  8. 8. Serve with a ladle putting one egg in each plate, top with some salsa and eat with the "polenta" pita. Delicious!
  9. 9. Bon appetit!
Adapted from Jamie Oliver
Adapted from Jamie Oliver
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