Adzuki Bean Soup

From: Chef #1116667

On Nov 5, 2009

Delicious soup. I added 1/2 a butternut squash to the recipe and it was a great combo! Also used a pinch of clove powder instead of whole cloves and it seemed fine. Next time will add some greens as well.

From: Chef #1311992

On Jul 2, 2009

I used dry herbs (1 tsp oregano, 1 tsp rosemary), which worked fine. I also sauteed the onions & celery in the herbs before boiling with the beans, which brought out the flavor. I soaked the beans for 6 hours or so first, which made them nice and soft, and shortened the cooking time to 1.5 hours. Excellent recipe, but I'll cut down on the salt next time.

From: Roosie

On Oct 22, 2004

I did puree about 1 or 1 1/2 cups of this, which gave it a creamy consistancy like a nice black bean soup. I used organic red adzuki beans, which were very nice. They have a very nice flavor to them. I was a little scared of the whole tsp of allspice, but I perservered and added all of it- I'm glad I did, yum! I removed the bay leaves, but couldn't find the cloves. We didn't bite down on any, so I suppose that they either somehow discenegrated or we were too busy eating this yummy soup to notice. I didn't have fresh herbs, so I used 1 tsp rosemary and 1 tsp oregano as suggested plus an additional 1/3 tsp savory. I was kind of surprised, but in the end I felt that this wanted some Indian spicing (I guess maybe it reminded me of a dal?) so I added 1 1/2 tsp "Emotional Balance" Spice Mixture #48156 and about 1/4 tsp garam masala. I think that maybe had I used fresh herbs, I wouldn't have craved this additional spicing- it smelled wonderful while cooking. We served with some yogurt and it made a delicious lunch. Next time I might try sauteeing the celery and onion in the herbs before cooking, as I feel this brings out the flavor much better than just simmering. Thank you for a lovely recipe, Minx!

From: Chef #1018174

On Nov 8, 2008

This soup is fantastic! I followed the suggestion to add a couple of diced carrots, as well as sauteeing the onion and garlic (as well as carrot and celery) first. Increased the garlic from one clove to four, crushing instead of mincing, for sweeter flavor. Used homemade vegetable stock instead of water, and for the fresh herbs I used thyme, oregano and sage. Added a handful of chopped green kale, and a half a cup of quinoa. Mmmmm!