Winter #WFPB Bean Soup Extravaganza 006g Rogier's Fusion Bean Soup

The transformation of my soup project is complete.

• It started out trying to re-create my mother's Bruine Bonensoep (Dutch Brown Bean Soup), which was a favorite dish of my youth, that I have not tasted since I lived in the USA for now 42 years.
• Then the project evolved to finding out the types of beans that were most similar in taste to the Dutch bruine bonen, which are not available in NYC, where I live. I got up to 4-5 varieties to try, including some of the Dutch beans, which I ordered from the Netherlands. After perfecting the recipe, I froze a bunch of cup-size portions of the soup that was made with the bruine bonen. And every Sunday, I cooked a new batch of soup, and on Monday, I would have the taste test. Of the first five varieties we tried, in the end I probably had a slight preference for the Dutch bruine bonen version, but only slight. Simply all of them were delicious in my book, and while slightly different from one another, at the end of the trip I could not decide if any one of them was simply BEST. The truth was, they were all good. So the next question was, with how many bean varieties can I really make this soup?
• Eventually, I also realized that I was no longer thinking in terms of recreating bruine bonen soup, and that while I started from the traditional Dutch recipe, the question had now become not which is the best bean to make this soup, but how many varieties of beans that are readily available to me can be used to make this soup. The list is starting to grow, but I am at 10 for now. In the process, I am now calling this recipe Rogier's #WFPB Fusion Bean Soup. Somebody already asked me to open a restaurant based on this recipe. You never know what the future may hold...

1. Dutch Brown beans (bruine bonen)
2. Roman beans (aka Cranberry beans, aka Borlotti beans, aka Cargamanto beans). A very close second indeed.
3. Small Red Beans. On the heels of Roman beans.
4. Pinto beans. Fine as well, but not as creamy, slightly flatter tasting.
5. Red Kidney Beans. Totally deliciouis just as well. This was this week's variety
6. Dominican Red beans, future.
7. Central American Red beans, future.
8. Pink beans.
9. Red Cargamanto
10. White Cargamanto.

In short, I now am half way through my new list of 10 bean varieties that all lend themselves to making this style of soup. The recipe is about half beans, half veggies, and it produces a thick soup - the type of soup that I call a meal soup, where a coup and a salad really makes a meal worth living for. A soup you can stick a fork in, so to speak.

The Updated Recipe

Inevitably, the recipe has evolved throughout this exercise, and I am printing the newest version here. The new ingredients are Fennel, and Panch Puran:

Ingredients

===the substance===

1 lb cups of Roman beans (Borlotti 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 tsp -1tbsp fennel for cooking the beans
12 Oz block of baked seitan (kao fu) or alternatively a cup of TVP (Soy chunks) - added with the veggies.
1/2 lb of barley - added with the veggies.

===The Base===

1 tbsp of Tianjin vegetables
1 tbsp summer Savory (note this also helps with digesting beans)
1 tsp-1tbsp Panch Puran
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 powder

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
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, celeriac root etc.
2 tomatoes, or a 15- Oz can of diced tomatoes
2 quarts of veggie broth, or water with Vegetable Better Than Bouillon or similar. More water as needed.
3 bay leaves
3 cloves
3 sprigs of thyme, fresh if you can, or 1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
1-2 tbsp of either miso or gochujang (or 1 tbsp of each) at the end to finish the taste mild with miso or hot with gochujang (or half and half)

Preparation

• Soak the beans overnight (minimum 6 hours ideally), with the kombu
• Drain the beans and cook with water, including the kombu, and fennel in the Instant Pot on Pressure Cook High for 10 mins.
• Meanwhile, cut up the onions fine, add in the panch puran, and dry roast for 5-7 mins at 350F (Medium High) - until the edges start to brown, but before they stick to the pot.
• Add in the minced garlic, minced shallots and sliced chilis, jalapeños, pepper and turmeric and stir fry it for another 5-7 mins, adding about 1 cup of water with Yondu.
• Add in the cooked beans and the savory and let it simmer together for 15 mins.
• In a separate pot, add the veggie broth and slowly bring it to a boil and turn it down to a slow simmer.
• Add in the barley, the cut-up veggies, potato, thyme and other spices and seitan and allow to cook slowly until veggies being to get soft.
• Add in the beans + the base of onions and allow to simmer another 30 mins or longer
• Add the tomatoes and more water to gain right consistency
• You can make the soup thicker by pureeing half or 2/3rds with an immersion blender, while leaving the other half/one third alone, so you can still see some beans and some chunks of vegetable floating in the soup.
• Finish the taste with miso (mild) or gochujang (hot & spicy).
• Note, if you have people who want it milder, go to the low end with the hot peppers, i.e. 2 chilis, 1 jalapeño. That is just enough for a hint. I then finish it in two batches, one with miso, and from that I put aside an amount for the "mild" customers and one with gochujang for the customers who like it spicy. Then, after I set aside enough "mild" soup, I combine the two. The Gochujang elevates the spicy nature and the miso adds the deep aroma.

Winter #WFPB Bean Soup Extravaganza 006d Dutch Brown Bean Soup

 Bruine Bonensoep, folks. That's the Dutch name. Here they are.

These were organic beans from Albert Heyn in the Netherlands. Not available in the USA. The only thing I could find here was HAK bruine bonen in a jar,  but I prefer to cook with the dried beans.

Inevitably the recipe has been evolving during this test run, and I am going to make it a few more times to really stabilize it.

The Final Recipe (for now)

Bruine Bonen Soep - Reference

The purpose of this recipe was to make a comparison of the taste of different beans, based purely on keeping everything else the same.
I tried red kidney beans, pinto beans, roman/borlotti/Cranberry beans, and this time bruine bonen from Holland.
Also take note of the site https://bruinebonensoep.com and http://www.bruinebonenbende.nl

Source for the precursor to this recipe (as you will see, I have much expanded and altered it, though arguably in the same style): View on thedutchtable.com

The bottom line is the Dutch beans are creamier than the others, and make a better soup, but on the whole, I think the differences are very small, and that became evident from the ratings from various taste testers.

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

Preparation

• Soak the beans overnight (minimum 6 hours ideally).
• Drain the beans and cook with water, including the kombu, and savory in the Instant Pot on high for 10 mins.
• Meanwhile, cut up the onions fine and dry roast for 5 mins at 350F (Medium High) - until the edges start to brown, but before they stick to the pot.
• Add in the minced garlic, minced shallots and chilis, pepper and turmeric and stir fry it for another five mins, adding about 1 cup of water with Yondu.
• Add in the cooked beans and let it simmer together for 15 mins.
• In a separate pot, add the veggie broth and slowly bring it to a boil and turn it down to a slow simmer.
• Add in the barley, the cut-up veggies, potato, tomato, thyme and seitan and allow to simmer until veggies being to get soft.
• Add in the beans + the base of onions and allow to simmer another 30 mins or longer
• Add more water to gain right consistency and finish the taste with miso (mild) or gochujang (hot & spicy).
• You can make the soup thicker by pureeing half with an immersion blender, while leaving the other half alone, so you can still see some beans and some chunks of vegetable floating in the soup.
• Note, if you have people who want it milder, go to the low end with the hot peppers, i.e. 2 chilis, 1 jalapeño. That is just enough for a hint. I then finish it in two batches, one with miso, and from that I put aside an amount for the "mild" customers and one with gochujang for the customers who like it spicy. Then, after I set aside enough "mild" soup, I combine the two. The Gochujang elevates the spicy nature and the miso adds the deep aroma.

=========================================================================

That is it. End of the soup challenge for the winter of 2021.

I will make the recipe a few more times, but the above is my conclusion sofar. I was particularly happy that I found a ways to easily accomodate a few people who like it a bit milder than what I prever.

Conclusion

As to my preference for the bean varieties which I tried, it is as follows.

1. Dutch Bruine bonen - they seem to be the creamiest.
2. Roman beans, aka Borlotti beans, aka Cranberry beans, aka Roman beans, aka Cargamanto beans - these run a close second
3. Pinto beans. Well known from radio and TV. These make a very credible soup also.
4. Rec Kidney Beans. For a long time, I use to thing these were a direct equivalent to the Dutch original, but no. These make a decent soup, but #2 and #3 above are closer to the original, so in a way, Red Kidney Beans would be my last choice.

Winter #WFPB Bean Soup Extravaganza 006b Pinto Bean Soup

This is the next installment of my Bruine Bonensoep Fusion project, and today it is time for the Pinto Bean variety.

I am making a minor tweak to the recipe, for some folk are very sensitive to hot spices like Thai chili peppers and jalapeño peppers, so I am toning that down. In other words, where it says 2-3 Thai chilis, I am now using 2 and where it says 1-2 jalapeños, I am now using 1. This will leave just a hint of spice, but then if you finish a batch with gochujang, you can satisfy the people who like hot and spicy, whereas finished with miso it can satisfy others who like things mild. One of my taste testers is a typical example. The husband likes it hot, the wife likes it mild.
In all, I found that I have a slight preference for the Pinto bean version, but only slight. I'll be curious to see how murky the picture gets after I do the Cranberry beans next weekend.

One major difference I created this week was that I made it more chunky style, as opposed to entirely smooth. Once I combined the sautéed onions and pepper with the beans, I puréed only 2/3rds of them and left the other 1/3rd in tact, plus then I also lefft the veggies in tact, as I did not use bhe blender again.

Ingredients

1 lb cups of red kidney beans (or pinto beans, or borlotti beans aka cranberry beans, or 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)
1/2 lb of barley
3 bay leaves
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 leek, washed and sliced fine
1 cup of eddo.
3 stalks of celery, including leaves
2-3 red skin potatoes, washed and diced,
2-3 carrots peeled & diced
2 tomatoes, or a 15- Oz can of diced tomatoes
3 sprigs of thyme, fresh if you can
1 quart of vegetable broth
1 quart of water with Vegetable Better Than Bouillon
1 tbsp of either miso or gochujang at the end to finish the taste mild with miso or hot with gochujang

I also added in a turnip this week... 

The Process

• Soak the beans overnight (minimum 6 hours ideally, with the kombu.
• Drain the beans and cook with water, including the kombu, and savory in the Instant Pot on high for 10 mins.
• Meanwhile, cut up the onions fine and dry roast for 5 mins at 350F (Medium High)
• Add in the minced garlic, minced shallots and chilis, pepper and turmeric and stir fry it for another five mins, adding about 1 cup of water with Yondu.
• Add in the 2 pints of veggie broth. 
  
• Add in the cooked beans 
• puree with a stick blender, option to puree only half if you still want to see some beans. (in this case, I left 1/3rd of the beans whole.)
• Add in the cut-up veggies, potato, tomato, thyme and seitan and simmer on low for 30 mins.
• Add more water to gain right consistency and finish the taste with miso (mild) or gochujang (hot & spicy), dissolved in a half cup of water.

Notes: 

• by adding some miso or gochujang at the end, you can actually make two batches, one for folks who cannot take too much heat, and the other for the ones who love heat. Do NOT Cook the miso, just blend it in at the end, dissolved in water.
• If you cook the beans normally, it takes far longer, like 1.5 hours or so to pre-cook the beans. In short, the instant pot is a huge time saver.
• It is your option if you want it chunky or smooth. I like to purée the beans right when I add the stock (to cool them off also). Then, if you cut your veggies fine, as well as cut your seitan into small cubes, you can continue cooking and have a chunky soup or, if you want it smooth, use your trusty immersion blender once more.
• My annotations will change in terms of temperatures, but for the onions 5 minutes roasting at 350F is how it works on my equipment, but what it means is: roast it dry until the edges just start to brown, but before they stick to the pan of get charred. And then, you stir-fry them by gradually adding your water with Yondu for another five minutes. If your equipment has a temperature readout, it may well be different from mine. The result is what matters.
• Getting the dried beans (Bruine Bonen) from Holland, now seems to be unaffordable, the freight is unworkable. so I am giving up on that idea for now.

Update on the bean counting

Meanwhile, I continuied my research on beans... All in the interest of science, shall we say. 

1) Red Kidney Beans - $2-3/lb (Organic nearly 50 - 100% more).
2) Pinto Beans - same thing, $2-3/lb, and organic 50-100% higher.
3) Borlotti Beans (aka. Cranberry beans) - regular 4 lbs/$16, which works out to $4/lb and Organic 50-100% more.
4) Dutch Bruine Bonen, Organic Dutch Brown Beans worked out at $11.42/lbs, including the freight, which amounted to $7.31/lb. I got 3 kg (6.61 lbs) for $75.50. In all with that amount I will be cooking a lot of Bruine Bonensoep.

Dutch #WFPB Improv 001 Bruine Bonen Soep - Kidney Bean Soup

As a kid, growing up in Holland, I used to love bruine bonen soep. We were vegetarian, so besides leaving out the oil, I guess I could have used the recipe from those days, but I have no idea what my mother really did, although I liked to hang out in the kitchen and often helped with cooking.

Meanwhile, later, after I started living on my own, I became a bit familiar with the general Dutch way of making this type of soup, with sausage and bacon. Stick to your ribs as they say. In my #WFPB version, I allow for either TVP or baked Seitan to provide some of that chewyness that sausage might provide and that works quite well. I have even had some omnivore friends asking me what kind of meat this was. I get a kick out of that.

So, since I have quite an inventory of kidney beans and pinto beans and other pulses, I figured it's soup season and I made this improvisation based on a recipe from a Dutch website. The first few times I made it with pinto beans, because I have a lot of them in the house, but I am also going to make it with red kidney beans, which at least visually seem closer to the Dutch bruine bonen (brown beans). I know that in the past I did make a version with red kidney beans also. Next time I do, I am going to try to appreciate the difference in flavor.

I ended up straying very far from the original, but the result was amazing. My neighbor who ate some of it said it was the best soup he ever had in his life. In some versions of it, I've also added barley, which is very nice and makes it even more of a complete meal. Have a salad on the side and you have a highly nutritious complete meal. These days you can even find some whole wheat bread sticks if you're looking for crunch.

Bruine Bonen Soep

Kidney Bean Soup

View on thedutchtable.com

Ingredients

2 cups of kidney beans or pinto beans, dry
1 ounce of kombu for soaking
 

1tsp summer savory for cooking the beans
1-3 bay leaves
2-3 medium sized onions, cut-up fine
2-3 shallots or other small onion
4-5 chilis and/or jalapenos, or both - cut-up fine
2 quarts of veggie broth or alt. use something like Veggie Better Than Bouillon and water. More water to taste.
1 leek, washed and sliced fine.
5-10 cloves of garlic, minced
1-3 toes of turmeric, minced or 1 tsp of turmeric powder
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
1/2 cup of celeriac root, parsnip, or turnip, or eddo.
2-3 stalks of celery, including leaves
2-3 potatoes, washed and diced,
1-2 carrots peeled & diced
2 tomatoes, or a 15- Oz can of diced tomatoes 

Optional: add in some barley for the last 30 mins.
Some Tianjin veggies
Some miso, or gochujan, or Yondu to taste.
If you want some chewyness, you could add in some baked seitan (kao fu), or ΅soy chunks/TVP. etc. Could also be mushrooms.

Garnish with parsley.

Preparation

• Soak the beans overnight (minimum 6 hours ideally).
  
• Cut up the onions fine and dry roast for 5 mins at 425F (Medium High)
• Add in the minced garlic, minced shallots and chilis, turmeric and stir fry it for another five mins, adding about 1 cup of water or veggie broth.
• Add in the drained beans and 2 pints of veggie broth. If you pre-cooked the beans in the Instant Pot, you can use the cooking water from the beans also.
  
• Let cook for 1- 1.5 hrs, until the beans are soft. Alternatively, you can cook the beans in water with the kombu in the Instant Pot. That will save time and energy (takes only 10 mins.
  
• Puree it with a stick blender or in a food processor.
  
• Add in the cut-up veggies, potato, tomato, thyme simmer low for 30 mins.
• Add more water to gain right consistency and finish the taste with miso or gochujang or similar.

Serve, enjoy.