cuban cure

I got a text message from my sister in the early hours of this morning: you better have a fun irishman story to tell me tomorrow. At the time, I was walking home from a St Patrick's Day house party, wearing green, and was half way through a felafel kebab. The humour of the scene didn't escape me. Haha yeah, the one where I'm walking up cuba street by myself mowing a kebab? Happening right now. Great story. SHAME.

Despite my ambitious declaration yesterday, the closest I got to a pash was mowing aforementioned kebab like my life depended on it. Pretty standard behaviour really. And this morning all I was left with was a slight headache. But! I cheered up no end when the following popped up on my phone: Morning! Would you like to join us for nigella's greatest hangover soup of black bean and chorizo at midday?

How could I refuse an invite like that? I armed myself with a crusty baguette, some freshly squeezed orange juice and yesterday's Guinness Cake.

My friends Jimmy and Nicky had told me about this magical, spicy soup of Nigella's which apparently cured hangovers a couple of weeks ago. This soup, along with juice, coffee, and star signs from the Sunday paper, are all recommend as hangover cures. Or just Sunday lunchtime essentials. If you're still feeling seedy after this steaming bowl of spicy goodness, well at least hopefully you've had a fun few hours with friends laughing at night-before stories and ridiculous things on youtube.

This soup is amazing. Seriously amazing. It's hearty and spicy, but with clean flavour combinations and nothing too rich. The beans are nourishing, the lime is crucial and it really is just delicious.


Nigella's Cuban Cure Black Bean Soup
Nigella made this as part of her Christmas series on Food TV. She sneakily whips it up when feeling a bit under the weather, in the middle of the night. It's great after a few too many pints, but it's also just a simple and impressive meal. The amounts below serve two, and the vegetarian among us still rated it very highly without chorizo.

150g chorizo
2 spring onions
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 425g can black beans
1 fresh tomato, chopped (you could probably comfortably use a couple)
500mL chicken stock
the juice of one lime (likewise you may want to up this a bit)
2-4 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
1 fresh chilli, sliced (added by Nicky and a key addition I reckon)

Slice the chorizo and lightly fry in a medium-large saucepan for 5 or so minutes. Remove the chorizo from the pan with a slotted spoon. Finely slice the white parts of the spring onion and add to the pan with the chorizo juices. Add the cumin and cook over a gentle heat for a couple of minutes.

Add the black beans, tomato, chilli, and chicken stock. Stir it up and let simmer for about 10 minutes. Add the chorizo and coriander.

Ladle the soup into serving bowls and garnish with more coriander and squeeze in the lime juice. Enjoy!