Winter #WFPB Bean Soup Extravaganza 006e Borlotti Bean Soup

One mo' time with the Borlotti Bean soup, where Borlotti beans, and Roman Beans, and Cranberry Beans, and Cargamanto Beans are all the same thing...

The model is still a variant of the Dutch Bruine Bonensoep (Brown Bean Soup), and Borlotti Beans are a very good substitute if the original Dutch beans are not available.

The recipe is increasingly stabilizing. All the ingredients are in the pictures. The first two pics are the kombu and beans, soaking and in the Instant Pot. The 3rd picture has all the other ingredients.

===the substance===
1 lb cups of Roman beans (Borlottib beans, Cranberry beans), or Pinto beans, or Red Kidney beans, or, but of course, Dutch Bruine Bonen), dry
1 strip of kombu for soaking overnight
1 tbsp summer savory for cooking the beans
12 Oz block of baked seitan (kao fu) or alternatively a cup of TVP (Soy chunks).
1/2 lb of barley

===The Base===                                                    

1 tbsp of Tianjin vegetables
3 medium size yellow onions, cut-up fine
3 shallots or other small onion
6-10 cloves of medium sized cloves of garlic, minced
1-3 toes of turmeric, minced or 1 tbsp of turmeric powder3 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 cup water with 1 tsp of Yondu for sautéing the onions and peppers
2-3 Thai chili, green
1-2 jalapeños, cut-up fine
1 green bell pepper
1 tbsp of ground Annato seeds
1 tsp smoked paprika (?)

===The Veggies===
1 leek, washed and sliced fine
3 bay leaves
1 cup of eddo.
3 stalks of celery, including leaves
2-3 red skin potatoes, washed and diced,
2-3 carrots peeled & diced
other root vegetables as might be around, turnips, parsnips, etc.
2 tomatoes, or a 15- Oz can of diced tomatoes
3 sprigs of thyme, fresh if you can
2 quarts of veggie broth, or water with Vegetable Better Than Bouillon or similar. More water as needed.
1 tbsp of either miso or gochujang at the end to finish the taste mild with miso or hot with gochujang

You can check the earlier posts for the precise methodology, just a few notes here: 

This is an elaborate soup, but by multi-tasking you can compress the cooking time. The beans with kombu and savory, if you soaked them overnight, go in the Instant Pot for just 10 minutes on pressure cook. If your did not soak them it's just 25 mins.

I cook the base and veggies separate up to a point, again, this creates a multi-tasking opportunity, the beans and the base can be cooking while you're prepping and pre-cooking the veggies. Once the onions etc. are done, I add in the beans from the Instant pot and let them simmer for 15 mins, while the veggies come to the boil. When the veggies get soft, I add the beans & base mixture, and then I let the whole thing simmer slowly for 30 mins. That's when I take out 1/3rd before I smoothe the soup with the stick blender.

I shred the veggies fine with the mandolin. In the end, I smooth 2/3rds of it with a stick blender, and then I add in the other 1/3rd and the Seitan, cubed. This way, the Seitan stays intact. I let it simmer with the Seitan for 5 minutes, while stirring and after I turn off the heat I add 1-2 tbsp of miso dissolved in 1-2 cups ov water. That finishes the taste. If you like really spicy, you can use 1 tbsp of Gochujang instead of one of the tablespoons of miso. It does not need anything else. Rich, aromatic meal soup. 

This soup and a salad makes a meal any day of the week.