Spicy Mexican Bean Soup

Autumn has well and truly arrived in England this week, and the nights are drawing in, so I thought that this hearty, protein-packed, bean soup would make an ideal week-night meal. You can make this soup as smooth or chunky as you like, depending on your family's preference. I decided to blend the soup and then add the beans for a bit of texture, but you could blend the whole soup (including the beans), or not blend at all if you want a more rustic, chunky soup.

• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 clove of garlic, roughly chopped
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 small red bell pepper, diced 
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 3 cups vegetable stock, made with 1 stock cube
• ¼ cup dried red lentils
• 1 tsp mild chilli powder
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• ½ tsp smoked paprika
• ½ tin beans, drained and rinsed - I used mixed beans but you could use any type
• 2 tsp fresh chopped coriander
• a little hot chilli sauce, to taste

Heat a drop of vegetable oil in a large pan. Add the onion and garlic and saute gently for a couple of minutes. Add all of the remaining ingredients, except the beans and coriander leaves, and simmer for around 15-20 minutes, until the lentils and vegetables are tender. 

At this point you can blend the soup (I used my tried and tested Optimum 9400 blender) and then add the beans, or vice versa, or don't blend at all!
Return the the soup to the pan for a further couple of minutes to heat the beans through before serving.
Season with hot chilli sauce to taste and sprinkle with the coriander leaves.

Serve with warm home-made bread.

I'm entering this recipe to this month's No Croutons Required Challenge, co-hosted by Jacqui at Tinned Tomatoes and Lisa at Lisa's Kitchen. 

I'm also adding it to this month's Credit Crunch Munch, created by Helen and Camilla and hosted this month by Hannah at A New Addition