It’s warm and comforting and on a cold winter’s night, a bowl of something steaming and delicious can feel like a hug from someone you love.

I like anything I can eat from a bowl with a spoon, and that is why I absolutely love soup.  Yes, the summery gazpacho’s and chilled cucumber soups are lovely, but there is nothing that put the world to rights like a bowl of delicious, warm soup.  Add a bit of crusty bread and you’ve got yourself a meal.  And to continue our money-saving theme for the month of May, nothing will fill up a crowd for very little money like soup.

My mother used to make the best soup in the world.  She would put the slow-cooker on in the morning and when we got home from school, the aroma of a rich, meaty soup would greet us at the door.  The soup would be thick with meat and vegetables and pulses.   Breaking cubes of freshly baked brown bread (still warm from the corner shop) into the soup would take the whole experience to the next level.  Those are cherished memories from my childhood, very close to my heart.

I do not own a slow-cooker (an issue I might rectify this coming winter).  And for this series, I also needed to make a cheap soup.  I browsed my recipe books and searched high and low for that one recipe that would be cheap, tasty and a little bit special.  I found one by Riana Scheepers. 

Yes, Riana Scheepers is an author.  She has also written a beautiful cookbook about her life and her kitchen on their farm in the Boland called Vallei van Melk en Heuning (Valley of Milk and Honey).  It’s exactly the type of recipe book that I love – it tells stories about life as much as it inspires to cook delicious dishes.  After all, we are the food we eat (or cook), aren’t we?

VALLEI VAN MELK EN HEUNING – TANZANIAN BEAN SOUP

In her book, Riana tells how she often hosts Soup and Bread evenings – my idea of heaven by the way.  She always has a few different soups on the table that evening, but this is the one, she says, that guests always ask the recipe for.  I understand why.  It’s fantastic! There is no meat in it (points for saving money), yet it tastes “meaty”. 

I don’t know what makes it Tanzanian, but it certainly got two thumbs up from my husband.

45 ml butter

1 onion, chopped

1 big green bell pepper, chopped

1 big red bell pepper, chopped

5 ml cumin

5 ml curry powder

Handful of celery leaves, chopped (use the inner, light green leaves, not the tough outside ones)

3 tomatoes, peeled and chopped

1 x 410 g tin of four-bean mix

1 x 410 g tin of chickpeas

1 x 400 ml tin of coconut milk or cream

Some water or chicken stock (I used 250 ml of chicken stock)

Half a cup of cooked rice

Coriander leaves and avocado slices to garnish

Heat the butter in a pot and sauté the onion and bell peppers until slightly softened.  Add the cumin and curry powder and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes.  Add the celery, tomatoes, tins of beans, coconut milk and water/stock and cook for about ten minutes.

Add the rice and simmer until cooked through.  The second time I made this soup, I also added a tin of chopped tomatoes to stretch it even further.  It’s entirely optional.  Garnish the soup with coriander leaves and avocado slices.

Riana advises serving the soup with a fresh ciabatta, good olive oil and balsamic vinegar and home-made dukkah.

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ooOoo