Chickpea & Black Bean Tortilla Soup

When most people think of Bean Soup, they think: get a pot, toss in some beans and veggies, add water, cook for a long time, and boom, soup. Which is true! And delicious. But, there's more to life than that. There's beanifying the world’s best soups.

Today, we riff on a time-tested favorite – tortilla soup. In this Moonbean-fortified version of the classic, Nacho ‘Banzos and Midnight Moonrise Black Bean Tofu provide some extra protein and fiber alongside the body-warming goodness of toasted chiles and the crunchy satisfaction of tortilla strips.

We even made a recipe video! But, we have a confession: we have *almost* no idea how to make a cooking video (What the heck, internet? How did you make it look so easy? How else might you be misleading us??) We’re posting it anyway. Please be kind.

Ingredients:

• 8 corn tortillas, cut into strips
• 3-6 dried chiles: pasillo, guajiilo, ancho, and/or your personal favorite chiles
• 1 large can of diced tomatoes (fire roasted is best for this recipe!)
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 medium cloves of garlic, minced
• 32 oz No Bones Broth (or sub in your favorite broth)
• 1 block Midnight Moonrise Black Bean Tofu (or sub in 8 oz cooked black beans)
• 2 jars Nacho ‘Banzos (or sub in 16 oz of cooked chickpeas + your favorite nacho-style seasoning)
• 1 large bag or 2 medium bags of frozen corn
• 2 limes (one for juice, one for garnish)
• 1.5 Tbsp avocado oil

Optional Garnishes:

• Cilantro
• Avocado
• Lime wedges
• Sliced jalapeno
• Sliced radishes
• Chopped scallions
• Sour cream
• Shredded cheddar cheese

Instructions

(1) Blend the soup base

1. Remove the stem and seeds from the dried chiles and then toast them in a dry skillet until soft and fragrant.
2. Add the toasted chiles to a blender with the black bean tofu and can of diced tomatoes. Blend until smooth.

(2) Bake the tortilla strips

1. Cut the tortillas into thin strips, and toss them with oil and salt. Toast in the oven until they’re curled and crisp. 

(3) Cook the Soup

1. Add 1 tbsp of oil to a large pot or dutch oven. Add the diced onion and cook until soft.
2. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, less than one minute.
3. Add the soup base that you prepared in the blender and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring until very fragrant. (You may want to ventilate with an open window if you selected extra hot chiles for your soup base!)
4. Add No Bones Broth and simmer for 5 minutes
5. Add frozen corn and simmer for another 10 minutes
6. Add Nacho Banzos and simmer for another 5 minutes
7. Turn off the heat and stir in the lime juice
8. Add salt and pepper to taste

(4) Finish!

1. Add a heaping pile of freshly toasted tortilla strips and your favorite high-class garnishes to every bowl as you serve.