Boontjiesop (Boontjiesop)
Overview
Boontjiesop is a thick South African bean soup, its name meaning bean soup in Afrikaans. Dried sugar beans, the speckled beans widely grown in South Africa, are soaked and simmered slowly with a smoked ham hock or beef shin, onion, carrot, celery and potato until they break down and the soup becomes creamy. The meat is shredded back into the pot, and the soup is seasoned with salt, pepper and sometimes a little curry powder or bay leaf. It is often partly mashed or blended to make it smooth. Boontjiesop is a classic winter meal on farms and in family kitchens, served with fresh bread or vetkoek.
History
Bean soup has been part of Afrikaner home cooking since the days of the early Dutch settlers at the Cape, who brought a love of thick pulse soups from Europe. Dried beans kept well on long journeys and on remote farms. Boontjiesop remains one of the best known traditional soups of South Africa and is often made in large pots in winter.
Main ingredients
Sugar beans, smoked ham hock, onion, carrot, potato, celery. The soup is built on ham stock and is usually served hot. Diet: contains meat; usually gluten-free.
Explore: Bean soups · Pork soups · Potato soups
Recipe
Method
- 11.5 h
Put the beans, ham hock, bay leaves and water in a large pot and simmer for 1.5 hours.
- 245 min
Add the onions, carrots, celery and potatoes and cook for 45 minutes more.
- 3
Remove the hock, shred the meat and mash some of the beans to thicken.
- 4
Return the meat, season and serve with bread.
- ✓
Serve. About 2h 50m from start to bowl.
Sources
Description, history and recipe written by SoupWiki and checked against the sources above. Calories and times are rough estimates.
