Sopa da Pedra, Portuguese Stone Soup
Sopa da pedra, stone soup, comes with a folk tale attached: a traveling friar talked a village into a feast by claiming he could make soup from a stone, then asking for one ingredient at a time until the pot was full. The dish that carries the name, from Almeirim in the Ribatejo, is exactly that spirit, a thick pot of whatever is on hand, usually anchored with beans and pork. The plant version is common in the region's restaurants and loses nothing essential. The smoke comes from paprika, the body from mashed beans and collapsing potato, and the Portuguese signature from a handful of fresh coriander at the end.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups Kidney beans, cooked, from 0.75 cup dried or one 15 oz can, drained
- 2 Potatoes, cut into chunks
- 2 Carrots, diced
- 1 Turnip, diced
- 3 cups green cabbage, shredded
- 1 Yellow onion, diced
- 3 cloves Garlic, minced
- 1 cup Canned crushed tomatoes
- 1 tsp Smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp Cumin seed, ground
- 2 Bay leaves
- 1/4 cup Cilantro, chopped
- 1/2 tsp Black peppercorns, freshly ground
Method
- Sweat the onion in a large pot with 1/4 cup (60 ml) water until soft, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic, smoked paprika, and cumin and stir for one minute until fragrant. Blooming the paprika in the hot dry base draws out the smoke that stands in for the smoked pork this soup usually carries.
- Add the tomatoes, bay leaves, and black pepper and cook 3 minutes. Then add the potato, carrot, turnip, and 6 cups (1.4 L) water. Bring to a boil and simmer until the root vegetables are nearly tender, about 20 minutes.
- Mash a ladle of the beans against the side of the pot before adding the rest. The crushed beans thicken the broth and give it body, doing the job flour or a bone would in a heartier version.
- Stir in the beans and cabbage and simmer 10 minutes more, until the cabbage is soft and the potatoes are falling at the edges, which is what thickens the soup naturally. Fish out the bay leaves.
- Stir in the cilantro off the heat. Portugal cooks with coriander leaf where much of Europe would not, and it is what marks this as Portuguese. Taste and add pepper and a squeeze more if it needs lift. It thickens overnight, so loosen leftovers with water.
Nutrition
Estimated per serving: 210 calories, 11 g protein, 11 g fiber, 80 mg sodium. Computed from USDA FoodData Central reference values for the main ingredients. This is an approximation, not a laboratory measurement. How these are computed.
Cost per serving is estimated from US national-average retail prices for cheap staple forms, using BLS dried-bean prices and USDA produce prices. Prices vary by store and season, so treat it as a guide, not a receipt. How this is computed.
