Mexican tomato & bean soup

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons olive oil/ preferably from the sun-dried tomatoes

3 small red onions, finely chopped

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 mild red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

½ teaspoon ground cumin

600ml vegetable stock

200ml sun-dried tomatoes (half-dried version, drained and pureed in a blender) or passata

400g tin (chopped) tomato

400g tin black beans drained and rinsed

A handful of oregano, chopped

1 teaspoon of sugar

Juice of 1/2 lime

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

To finish

4-6 tablespoons soured cream (optional)

A small handful of coriander, roughly chopped

METHOD

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium-low heat, add most of the onions (reserving a little to finish the soup) and saute for about 5 minutes, or until softened. Add the garlic, chillies and cumin and stir for a minute.

Add the stock, the sun-dried tomato sauce (or passata), the tin of tomato, beans, oregano and sugar. Season with salt and pepper, bring to the boil and simmer gently for 10 minutes.

Remove from the heat and add the lime juice and coriander. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.

Serve the soup topped with dollops of soured cream, if you like, and scattered with the reserved red onion, chopped coriander, more chilli and freshly ground pepper.