Brown Bean Soup

Here is another popular Dutch soup recipe. The Brown Bean Soup is a very common winter soup and there are many variations to making it. It is a wholesome meal by itself and is often served with buttered brown bread.
I found this recipe in 'Dutch Cooking Today' and made some very minor changes to it.

Ingredients:


Dried brown beans - 350 gms
Large Potatoes - 2
Bay Leaves - 2
Peppercorns - 6
Cloves - 3
Butter - 50 gms
Finely chopped Onions - 3
Curry Powder - 1/2 tsp
Finely chopped celery leaves - 3 tbsps
Worcestershire Sauce - 2 tbsps
Freshly ground pepper - to taste
Chicken/Beef Bouillon cubes - 2
Salt - to taste

Method:


Soak the beans for 12 hours in slightly salted water. Peel and dice the potatoes. Add bay leaves, peppercorns and cloves to the beans and bring them to a boil in their soaking liquid. Simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Add the potatoes for the last 30 minutes of the cooking time.
In a separate pan, heat the butter and fry the onion until it's soft. Add the curry powder and fry for a few more minutes.
Remove the bay leaves, cloves and peppercorns from the pan. With a hand-blender puree the beens and potatoes in the cooking liquid. Add this to the onions and simmer the soup for another 10 minutes. Add the bouillon cubes, celery, and Worcestershire sauce. Season with pepper. Add salt if required.

Note : I saved time by cooking the beans in a pressure cooker for four whistles( the beans can take a while to cook). I opened the pressure cooker after it cooled down and then added the diced potatoes and cooked for another 2 whistles.
The original recipe uses parsley; I've used celery instead (simply because it was easily available).
I've used mild madras curry powder where it says curry powder.
The bouillon cubes were my addition. I think they add a lot more flavour to the soup. But since they're not in the original recipe you can omit them and make a purely vegetarian soup.