A spicy one-dish meal with explosive flavor: this sweet potato, rice and bean soup. If you like ethnic flavors, this is a dish that won’t disappoint, perfect also for a dinner with friends featuring world flavors.
All you need are sweet potatoes, wild/brown rice, red beans (I used vellutina), tomato passata and lots of spices… you’ll taste how delicious it is.
About vellutina beans: The vellutina red bean has a purple-tinged color that recalls velvet. It’s small, has a thin skin, and a creamy, tasty flesh. They are among the easiest beans to digest precisely because of their thin skin.
They are soaked overnight like other dried beans and then I cook them in a pressure cooker for 20 minutes.
If you’re looking for other legume soups, check out:
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very inexpensive
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Cooking time: 25 Minutes
- Portions: 4 servings
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Autumn, Winter
Ingredients for Sweet Potato, Rice and Bean Soup
- 1 Tropea red onion
- 2 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
- 1 sweet potato (or yam) (large)
- as needed vegetable broth
- 1/2 cups brown rice (this is about rice)
- 3 tbsps tomato passata
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 pinch crushed chili pepper
- 1/4 cups vellutina red beans (cooked)
- 1 pinch garlic powder
Steps for Sweet Potato, Rice and Bean Soup
Instead of rice you can use millet, buckwheat or spelt.
Peel and chop the onion, wash, peel and cut the sweet potato into cubes, and rinse the rice in a fine sieve. In a heavy-bottomed stainless pot, add the chopped onion with one tablespoon of oil and sauté for a few minutes over low heat.
Add the rice, the cooked beans and the sweet potato cubes and let them soak up the flavors.
Pour in the vegetable broth, the cumin, oregano, chili and the tomato passata. Stir and add enough broth to cover everything.
Cook over low heat for 30 minutes, checking the rice for doneness and ensuring it remains brothy like a soup; otherwise add more broth. At the end, adjust the seasoning.
Serve with a drizzle of olive oil and whole-grain croutons.
Tips from Timo e Lenticchie
You can change the type of cereal using one that cooks in about 30 minutes. You can use another type of legume; it’s also great with lentils.
