Accidental Bean Soup

Another happy kitchen mistake:
Pasilla chile + black beans + yogurt
= whoops, that was good!

Note: Please forgive the lack of photographs. I've been holding back because my camera is in the shop but this dish was so tasty I figured I should at least note instructions for re-creating it, and if I was going to go to the trouble, might as well share them. Besides, it is bean soup. It is brown and chunky. Maybe better if you don't see photos.

But I digress. The bean soup actually started with a plantain. I was at the grocery store in my new neighborhood, which is home to a lot of people who are not white yuppies (unlike my old neighborhood). The grocery store has a lot of things in it that reflect this diverse ethnic makeup--thinks like yucca, plantains, and rosewater. For my part, I had fond memories of a friend from the Caribbean's delightful rendition of platanos, plantains, sliced and cooked in a sweet syrup. I thought I'd replicate it if I could, but I wasn't sure if I should get a green or a ripe plantain.

Naturally, I got one of both. I mimicked her sweet dish with the ripe one, but that still left me a green plantain. I knew I could fry it & make chips, but normally I don't really thrill to the idea of deep fried anything, so I sent out a tweet, hoping some of you could help me out. I wasn't overwhelmed with responses online, but a woman at a coffee shop opposite me offered this advice for particularly tasty fried platanos: dip them (short soak is more like it) in salt water in between two separate rounds of frying. I decided to give it a try, already envisioning the pasilla chile chevre dip I'd make to go with them . . . Ah, pasillas, my flavor du summer. I can't get enough of their rich, smoky flavor--adding not so much heat as complexity.

But then I had only the tiniest bit of chevre. No matter, I had a bit of yogurt. I'd soaked the pasilla chili in hot water & dumped it all the wok, loath to lose out on any flavor, so it was pretty watery. No matter, I'll dump in a can of black beans for body. Brilliant! But the beans had quite a bit of water themselves, and I just didn't have the patient for it to simmer out.

By the time I blended it all together in the food processor I had about four cups of materiel, way more than I needed for dip. Plus, it was nothing like the creamy dip I'd envisioned. It was actually rather soupy. Soup! That's it! I'd made a soup. Now that was brilliant. My roommate wandered over and took a big spoonful, confirming in delight: "That is delicious!" Indeed it was, and it was a total accident but one I'd gladly make again. Here's the recipe so you can too.

Do it yourself:

Toast a pasilla chile over a dry skillet for about 30 seconds on each side. Cut out the stem & seeds and soak in about a cup of hot water.

Fry one large chopped onion and five cloves smashed garlic in oil. When onion is soft, add the chile and the water.

Cook a few minutes more then add one can black beans, including the liquid.

Spoon about 3 tablespoons chevre and 1 cup yogurt (I used plain, Greek-style yogurt) in the food processor. Pour in the onion-beans-chile mixture from the pan and blend together til just mixed; soup should be chunky.

Serve warm, with twice-fried plantains if you like.