Smoky Chipotle Black Bean Soup

Ingredients

• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 red pepper, deseeded and diced
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 chipotle chillies in adobo sauce, finely chopped, plus 1 tbsp sauce
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 x 400g tins black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• salt and black pepper
• 750 ml vegetable stock
• 1 lime, juiced
• sour cream, fresh coriander, and tortilla chips, to serve

Method

1. Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and red pepper and cook for 7 minutes until softened and edges starting to catch with colour.
2. Add the garlic, cumin, smoked paprika, chipotle and the adobo sauce. Stir and cook for 2 minutes until the spices smell toasted and the kitchen goes properly smoky.
3. Pour in the chopped tomatoes and vegetable stock, then tip in the black beans and red lentils. Bring up to a boil.
4. Reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for 25 minutes, stirring now and then so nothing catches on the base. The soup should be thickened and glossy.
5. Take a stick blender to roughly a third of the soup directly in the pot — you want a creamy backbone with plenty of whole beans still intact.
6. Squeeze in the lime juice and season generously with salt and black pepper. Taste — it should be smoky, deep and just hot enough to make you sit up.
7. Ladle into bowls, spoon over soured cream, scatter with coriander and tuck tortilla chips around the edge.