Mexico liquidised

As today was my first day back to work after the Christmas hols, and I went for a run, I decided I deserved a reward! Tonight I put together a soup that reminded me of Mexico. It was so thick and filling, and I ate it with an avocado salsa plopped on top. Perfect for these cold wintry evenings. I can't remember where I originally read this recipe, but it was also served with a dollop of sour cream and parmesan toasts. I decided to leave them out, this is just a regular Tuesday after all!



Spicy tomato and kidney bean soup with avocado salsa:

For the soup:

3 red onions
2 cloves of garlic
1 fresh chilli (finely chopped)
1 tsp dried corriander
1 tsp dried cumin
2 baby augergines
1 tin of kidney beans
2 tins of tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato purée
juice of half a lime
handful of corriander
salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar

Avocado salsa:

1 avocado
1 tomato
juice of half a lime
handful of corriander
salt and pepper
fresh chilli (optional)

First I heated some olive oil and cooked the onions and garlic until soft. Then I added the chilli, cumin, corriander and tomato purée and cooked for a further couple of minutes. I chopped the aubergines and fried it all up for about five minutes, adding some lime juice when the the bottom started sticking. Then I added the kidney beans and allowed them to heat through before adding the tinned tomatoes, the seasoning, corriander and remaining lime juice.
I allowed it all to bubble softly for a while, then removed from the heat and liquidised it. I also put in some natural yogurt as it was quite hot (I had added extra chilli flaked too!).
For the avocado salsa I roughly chopped the avocado (I like it chunky) and tomato, chopped the corriander quite finely, and added some seasoning. As my soup was already quite spicy, I decided not to add any tobasco or chilli.
I served the soup with a dollop of salsa on top, which sits up nicely, a testament to how thick the soup is!