Let’s cook potaje de garbanzos y frijoles

On By NoémiIn Food Recipes, Soups

I was thinking quite a lot about what should be the first recipe I’m sharing with you. Since autumn also means soup season, and we all love a bit of a warm caressing…
*drumroll* please
… I hereby present you, my first Foodie Friday post, which is going to be the recipe for my favorite Spanish soup: Potaje de Garbanzos y Frijoles – beans and chickpea soup with chorizo and morcilla.

Ingredients:

  • 300 g white beans
  • 300 g red beans
  • 300 g chickpeas
  • 200 ml tomate frito
  • 1 onion
  • 2 peppers
  • 2 tomatos
  • 4 – ∞ cloves of garlic
  • 2 pack of Compango Asturiano
  • 200 g chorizo
  • Salt, pepper, smoked paprika powder, bay leaf, beef cubes

⏱ prep time: 15 minutes
⏱ cooking time: 60 minutes

Since I live in Spain, I have Spanish ingredients here – duh. Some of which are might be a question mark for you, but don’t worry I’m about to tell you what are they, so you can find your substitute.

  • Tomate frito: It’s like passata, the Italian tomato puree – but just about 10 times better since it already has some onion and garlic too – sorry Italy, you will never win my heart over Spain – but yes, you can totally use passata.
  • Compango Asturiano: now this might be trickier. It’s basically chorizo – sausage, morcilla – blood sausage, and bacon – pancetta – we always end up in Italy… anyway. You will need around 200 g of each meat. Depends on how rich and meaty you like your soups. – I always put extra chorizo.
  • These specific beans that you can see on the picture. I get these bottles from Mercadona, but don’t worry back in Manchester I was using simple tinned beans and chickpeas in water. I have to admit I never tried using dry ones – as far as I know, you have to soak them in water overnight before cooking.

Let’s start cooking, good lookin’

  • Cut up the chorizo and bacon into small pieces. We leave the morcilla on the side, it needs to be added at the end since it has a very soft texture and cooks very fast.
  • Neeext: Put the chorizo and the bacon and the 4-5 chopped garlic cloves in a big ass pot – big enough to put later all the beans and stuff and a good 1-1.5 liter water. I don’t put any oil, the meat has enough already. And yes, the skin too, Stacey – you don’t have to eat it at the end, but let it cook, it’s rich in flavors – here in Spain we have those…
  • Then, we let it sweat for 5-10 minutes, like during the church confessions on Sunday. No need to cook it until it’s crunchy, just till it’s starting to brown up and lose most of the fat.
  • Meanwhile, it’s cooking, we are prepping the tomatoes, the peppers, and the onion. Yes, after I made the picture of the veggies, I realized another tomato and pepper wouldn’t hurt, so don’t be confused.

My gosh, look at these colors …
Also, magic trick: for years now I simply use a chopper to cut my veggies – totally fine, it’s not turning into a puree and it all takes probably 6 seconds – and I’m not crying anymore over some silly onions. But if you feel like dicing them up in the old-fashioned way, it’s okay too, but make it small.

  • Neeext: put the veggies in the pan, and cook it around with the meat for a few minutes.
  • After you can add 200 ml tomate frito – or passata – and like 4 bay leaves.
  • Neeext: we put the chickpeas and the beans – or alubias in Spain but for me they are always gonna be frijoles, because that’s what Duolingo taught me, so just roll with it.

Please, always wash your beans if they are coming from a can… I’m begging you. I see so many cooking videos around where they just pour anything directly into the pan from the can, with that jelly-juice kind of horrendous liquid…. don’t be that person.

Again, these colors, seriously…

  • Neeext: we pour in around 1 liter of water, the quantity depends on how liquidy you prefer your soups. Obviously, later if you need more, add more.
    If you want you can add chicken or beef broth instead of water – but I’ve never tried it with that, I always build the flavor up in the pot which we gonna do next, cuz…
  • It’s time for the first taste test
    I prefer to put salt, pepper, smoked paprika powder, 2 beef cubes, and extra garlic powder – if needed – at this step because all the meat we are cooking is very flavourful, very salty, and smokey.

    “Don’t forget, you can always put extra spices and herbs later if you miss something – but if you put too much at once you can’t take it out.” – Yoda
  • Neeext: cut up the morcilla too, then put it in the pot. – surpirising turn of events, I know.

Okay, technically – ideally … – the morcilla should go in the pot in one piece, during the last 5-10 minutes of cooking… But for me, it always explodes and comes out of the skin.
So lately, when I’m cooking potaje, I just cut it up like I did the chorizo at the beginning, and put it in the soup shortly after the beans…
I mean… if it’s gonna explode anyway 🤷 I think it’s better to just cook it already in pieces, together with everything… so the ingredients have more time to slow dance together, and create some magical flavors. 💃

  • And now we let it cook on medium heat until the beans and chickpeas are soft. Don’t let it bubble like crazy because the soft meats are gonna fall apart.
  • While it’s cooking, I prefer another taste test now, do the finishing touches, just in case if any salt or garlic, or paprika is missing.

Ayyy, por el amor de Dios y su madre y de mi vida – qué rica

Serve with fresh, warm bread and enjoy

See you at the next one,

Noémi

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63 thoughts on “Let’s cook potaje de garbanzos y frijoles”

    2. yes, it is like blood sausage. Similar to black pudding from England, but there’s no rice in this specific one. Although I made this soup before with the one with rice in it, and it was just as fine too.

      Reply
  25. Unknown's avatar Anonymous

    Hi Noémi,

    This soup looks great for autumn and colder weather. Thanks for posting.

    A suggestion for your Foodie Friday from me would be some tapas ideas as in our house we finish the working week on a Friday and like to have an apertivo.

    Some colourful homemade tapas would make a nice change from serving crisps with our drinks. Take care! Alison

    Reply

    1. Thank you, I’m glad you liked it. Let me know how it goes if you give it a go! Also, thank you for your suggestion, I really like the idea, because the tapas recipes are on the way shortly 🙂 Stick around 🙂

      Reply

  29. This looks so good I’m crying inside. We’ve been home from our month in Spain just one week, and how I miss these ingredients, the amazing concoctions. I will have to go on the hunt for real morcilla and chorizo.

    Reply

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  40. I know that when cooking normal dry beans overnight in a crock-cooker, they don’t have to be pre-soaked, & I think I’ve done dry Garbanzos as well, but it’s been a while & I can’t quite recall for sure how they turned out.

    Of course, the nutrient profile is always best if allowed to soak.

    Reply

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