Black Bean Salsa Soup

[mific]

This is a more complex version of Easy Black Bean Salsa Soup (which is literally just 2 cans beans, 1.5 cups stock, and 1 jar (~1 cup) chunky medium-hot salsa plus seasonings like garlic, cumin, S&P)

Here you make the salsa part yourself, rather than using a store-bought jar.

Ingredients:
2 x 15oz (2 x 420g) cans black beans (drained and rinsed)
4 large tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
1 medium green capsicum (bell pepper), rough chopped
1 large fresh green jalapeno, roughly chopped (or can use an equivalent amount of sliced pickled ones)
2 tsp tomato paste
1 Tbsp vinegar (ideally wine or apple cider vinegar)
1 handful chopped fresh coriander (cilantro)
2 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp brown sugar
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried or (ideally) fresh oregano
10 grinds fresh black pepper
2 cups vegetable stock
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
salt to taste
0.5 tsp MSG (optional)

Directions:
Keep some fresh chopped coriander/cilantro aside. Blend everything except 1 can of beans in a blender/food processor - ideally so it's not a completely smooth puree, so there's still a little texture. Lightly crush the beans from the second can (e.g. with a potato masher). In a saucepan, combine the puree with the second can of beans and simmer for 10 min.

Serve topped with Greek yogurt or sour cream, and the fresh cilantro (or chopped green/spring onions).

Great with warm GF wholegrain toast.

Notes: To take this to the next level, halve the tomatoes, onion, & capsicum and bake them and the jalapeno (if a fresh one) in a medium oven for 20 min. until just starting to split and brown, then blend them. Add an extra 0.5 cup of water if doing this.