Sopa Negra — Black Bean Soup with Egg

Ingredients

• 3 cans black beans, one drained
• 1 onion + 1 bell pepper, diced
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp cumin + 1 tsp oregano
• 4 cups stock
• 4 eggs
• Big bunch cilantro
• Lime, and rice to serve

Method

1. Soften the onion, pepper, and garlic in oil, 6 minutes; bloom the cumin and oregano for 1 more.
2. Add the beans (two cans with liquid — that's body) and stock. Simmer 15 minutes.
3. Blend half the soup and return it — silky base, whole beans riding through. The Costa Rican texture standard.
4. Poach the eggs directly in the barely-simmering soup: crack them in, cover, 4–5 minutes until the whites set and yolks tremble.
5. Ladle carefully so each bowl gets its egg moon, then cilantro and a hard squeeze of lime. Spoon-break the yolk into the black broth — that's the moment the dish was built for.