Introduction: Moroccan Three Bean and Kale Soup

About: I like to cook and I blog about it. I love to garden and everything about it. I like listening to NPR and watching cooking shows. I have two sons. The oldest I put in collage and he is a Medical Assistant.

We used some unprecedented spices in our soup, well at least I personally have not seen it done before. The spices we used, are used in Moroccan recipes as well as North African dishes.

The spices are a mix of organic spices and they include, Coriander, Cinnamon, Cumin, Lavender, Fennel, Pepper, Cayenne, Cloves, and Cardamon. We also used a can of fire roasted tomatoes.

Let's get to cooking, and here is what you will need to make Moroccan Three Bean and Kale Soup.

3/4 cup chopped mini-sweet peppers, red, yellow, and orange

3/4 cup chopped red onion

2 Tbs. olive oil

2 large cloves garlic, minced

3 cups baby kale leaves, chopped

1 can – 15.5 ounce kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 can – 15.5 ounces black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can – 15.5 ounces garbanzo beans – drained and rinsed

1 32 ounce container free range chicken broth, low salt

1 can – 28 ounces fire roasted tomatoes, with no added spices or herbs

2 tablespoons Ras El Hanout (find this at Whole Foods in the Spice and Herbs section for $2.79 as of 2015)

1/2 teaspoon Himalayan salt

Step 1: Sauteing Vegetables

Place a 6 to 8 quart soup pot over medium heat and add oil. Allow to warm, add onions, and sweet peppers and saute about 5 minutes. Next add garlic and continue to saute.

Step 2: Drain and Rinse Beans

Open the three cans of beans and pour each one into a colander and rinse under running water. Here's a side note, the white colander you see in the picture, I won that with a cookbook (Gluten-Free On A Shoestring) when I entered the Gluten Free Cooking Contest here at Instructables about a year ago. Okay, continuing on with the recipe preparation....

Step 3: Beans, Broth and Fire Roasted Tomatoes

Once you smell the garlic, stop sauteing and add the beans, broth and tomatoes, and mix until well incorporated.

Step 4: Adding the Spices

Next add the spice mix, and Himalayan salt, and mix in. Let soup simmer on low for about 20 minutes.

Step 5: Finishing Up the Soup Preparation

Now as for the 3 cups of kale, you can either add it while the soup is simmering, or wait after 20 minutes then add the kale stir in wait 5 minutes and serve. The leaves will cook a little, but there will be more color to the presentation of the soup.

This soup is like any sauce or salsa, gets tastier or more flavorful with time. If you allow the soup to sit 24 to 48 hours (stored in the refrigerator), the spices will be more absorbed into the finished product.

You will taste the hints of cinnamon and cloves. Clove, cumin and fennel can be dominant spices, though they are not in this spice mix. As it does have cayenne, there is no heat or spiciness to the soup. I feel the coriander, lavender, and cardamon all seem to tame the spice combination.

Step 6: Plate and Serve

However you chose to finish the soup, either simmering 20 minutes with the kale, or adding it later, once done, ladle into a soup bowl and enjoy.