How to make Tomato, Bean and Garlic Soup

How to make the quickest ever Tomato, Bean and Garlic Soup

This 5-element Tomato White Bean and Garlic Soup is a variation on beans in tomato sauce but blended. I came across the recipe on NYT cooking and thought that was an excellent recipe for winter. It is quick, filling and really delicious.

As 5-element Theory says: no processed foods, if you can, so go for dried beans instead of canned ones. Also, the flavour will gain a lot with fresh beans.

The night before

Soak 2-3 handfuls of white beans in cold water overnight. Make sure you add plenty of water as they will double in size.

On the cooking day

Drain the beans, place in a pan, add cold water to the level of the beans and cook until soft. Depending on the bean type it will take between 10-20 minutes. Drain the cooked beans on a colander.

The procedure

Use the same pan after cooking the beans (to save you the washing up) and add the ingredients:

Sweet 3-4 tablespoons of oil,
Pungent 1 latte onion roughly sliced, 10-12 garlic cloves peeled and roughly chopped, 1/2 fresh or dried chilli pepper, a generous pinch of black pepper, fry all the ingredients until the onions get translucent,
Salty 1/2 tablespoon of salt,
Sour 1 can of whole tomatoes or a jar of tomato passata (ideally use your own tomato puree made in summer when tomatoes are in season but I realise that may not be available to everyone), 1 teaspoon of dried basil, 1 tablespoon of tomato puree (optional),
Bitter a pinch of turmeric, 1/2 cup of boiling water,
Sweet cooked beans, a splash of olive oil.

Bring the soup to the boil and simmer on low heat for about 5-10 minutes.

Serve with bead of your choice or gourgeres – French cheese puffs or beer battered sage leaves.