Costa Rican Black Bean Dip

Pura Vida!

This is a recipe for black bean soup that is made thicker and used as a dip with fried plantains, Costa Rica style. Pantacones con frigoles negros es muy bueno. 

Maybe you don’t know. Perhaps you’ve never smelled the sulfur at Las Poas or heard the rumbling of Volcan Arenal. No? Never driven around Lake Arenal or knocked back from Guaro on the beaches of Playa Tamarindo? Well that needs to change. From Monteverde to Rincon de Vieja fried plantains dipped in black beans is the appetizer typical. It’s Costa Rican Black Bean Dip.

Lurk through a mountain rain forest or surf world-class breaks amidst coconut palms and royal poincianas. Was that the clacking of a toucan and what exactly is a coatimundi?

BLACK BEAN SOUP

Author: Lucienda Rosalita

Recipe type: side

Prep time:  30 mins

Cook time:  30 mins

Total time:  1 hour

INGREDIENTS

• 2 T Vegetable oil
• 1 Cup diced white onions
• 1 Cup celery
• ½ Diced carrots
• ½ Cup diced green pepper
• ½ Cup diced jalapenos
• 2 T Minced garlic
• 4 Cans black beans
• 4 Cups chicken stock
• 2 T apple cider vinegar
• 2 t Chili powder
• ½ t Red pepper
• ½ t Cumin
• ½ t Salt
• ¼ t Hickory liquid smoke

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan
2. Saute vegetables and simmer until soft
3. Strain beans under cool water
4. Mix 3 cups of broth with vegetables
5. Add beans and puree in a blender or food processor
6. Heat to a boil and then reduce to a simmer

Top this black bean soup with sour cream, Nicaraguan cream sauce, or garlic aioli.

Visit our recipe for Fried Plantains Costa Rican style.

Add or subtract broth depending on how thick you want your black beans. Thinner for soup, thicker for dip. Easy peasy.

Thanks for joining the wook wrangler family. Stay tuned for Ma Roux’s cornbread and Granny’s Homemade Coconut Cake. Keep up as we head south to the Suwannee River to join the “already in progress” Florida festival season.

It only gets better.