I came across this delicious, simple salad many years ago when visiting Novi Sad, Serbia, on business. You’ll adore this tomato salad if you enjoy a lovely, fresh, summery one with a little “kick” to it. For someone who enjoys heat, the banana pepper adds a distinctive touch to this salad.
| Prep Time: | 10 mins |
| Cook Time: | 4 hrs 15 mins |
| Total Time: | 4 hrs 25 mins |
| Servings: | 6 |
| Yield: | 6 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 (8 ounce) package dry black beans
- 2 stalks celery, cut into thirds
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 1 large carrot, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon hot chile flakes
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can water
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 3 dashes hot pepper sauce, or to taste
Instructions
- Rinse beans and remove any particles or bad beans; place in a saucepan and cover with 2 inches water. Add celery and bay leaves. Bring to a boil and cook over high heat, adding more water as necessary, for 10 minutes. Drain beans and remove and discard celery.
- Meanwhile, heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add onion, bell pepper, and carrot; saute until onions are fairly translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, cumin, and chile flakes; continue to cook until heated through and fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the heat.
- Place tomatoes and water in a slow cooker. Add onion mixture, beans, and bay leaves.
- Cook until beans are tender enough that you can easily smash one between your tongue and the top of your mouth, on Low for 6 hours or High for 4 hours. Add vinegar. Taste to adjust seasonings and add hot pepper sauce.
- To make ahead, you can do steps 1 through 3 the night before. Store the bowl of the slow cooker in your refrigerator overnight until you are ready to start cooking.
- Soup can be partially pureed for a thicker consistency.
Reviews
It tasted good, I will make again after some modifications. I prepped the soup the day before & left it in the crock overnight. Could not find chile flakes so I used 1/2 tsp chili powder instead. After cooking on low for 6 hours, the beans were not fully cooked, they were harder than they should have been. Next time I will cook the beans like they should be cooked before adding them to a recipe. I also think that this needed more liquid.
To me, this came together to be more than the sum of it’s parts. We used Rotel tomatoes with chilis for extra flavor.
I love this recipe!… changed only a few things to add flavor and make it one pot: 1- soaked beans overnight with water and baking soda so it gets rid of Lecithin. 2-added chicken better than bouillon in place of salt 3-put rinsed pre-soaked beans, water, bouillon, whole celery stalks, and bayleaf directly in crockpot on Hi for 2-3 hrs until beans cooked crisp tender. 4-then turn down to low and proceed as directed. 5-added two stalks chopped celery in with other veggies. 6-dialed back red pepper flakes to 1/2 tspn
Made this following directions exactly except for adding about a cup of vegetable broth during cooking. I served with white rice, cilantro, and a dollop of sour cream along with toasted garlic rounds. I think sliced avocado alongside would be good too. Very substantial supper.
This was very good. I served it over rice as a vegetarian meal. I used crushed red pepper instead of red pepper flakes. I don’t know if that made a difference, but it was a little spicy for us. I added chopped cilantro at the table.
Since a bag of dried beans can’t be found right now, I used three cans of canned black beans, rinsed and drained. I chopped the celery finely and cooked it with the rest of the vegetables. I used orange bell pepper and chili-ready diced tomatoes since I had those on hand. At last tasting, it was really, really good and once it cooks for the rest of the evening I’m sure it will be outstanding. I was afraid without meat that it would be bland, but it’s not bland at all! Thank you, thank you for this. It’s going into my files.
3.18.20 I used my Instant Pot® with its slow cooker feature on high and did have to add a little water at about 3 hours. I live in Florida with lots of Cuban restaurants, and this measured up really well to many that I’ve had and enjoyed. The only modification I made was cutting the chili flakes back to 1/2 teaspoon, otherwise, followed the recipe to the letter. When finished cooking, I tasted, gave it a pretty good shot of hot sauce, and garnished with some chopped red onion and cilantro. WorkingCookingMom, thanks for sharing your recipe, we enjoyed it!