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Navy Bean Soup

A slow cooker requires less water than a stockpot. Water condensation forms on the lid of the slow cooker and returns the water back into the pot. To adapt this recipe to a stockpot, use 8 cups of water instead of 6. The final texture of the soup is a matter of preference. Serve it just as it is without pureeing any of it, or purée until completely smooth, or anything in-between I would recommend a least a light purée since the smashed beans help thicken the broth. Crockpots come in all different sizes. A small one wouldn’t be big enough to hold the contents of this recipe. Mine is oblong and measures 11 inches across. I filled it to the brim with the ham bone, beans and vegetables and could only get about 6 1/2 cups of water in. Of course, the ham bone takes up a lot of space but I formulated the recipe for a slow cooker because that’s the way so many folks, including myself, like to cook soups. I prefer my stockpot over my slow cooker if I’m making a batch big enough to feed the county and I need a bigger size cooking vessel than the slow cooker offers.
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Prep Time 1 day
Cook Time 12 hours
Total Time 1 day 12 hours
Course Main Dish
Cuisine American
Servings 6 people

Ingredients
  

  • 500 grams dry Navy Beans, OR Great Northern Beans, soaked overnight and drained
  • 1 meaty ham bone, OR one ham hock or pork knuckle
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 3 carrots, diced
  • 3 stalks celery, including tops, diced
  • 3 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
  • handful fresh parsley, trimmed and chopped
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 6-7 cups water

Instructions
 

  • Place ham bone in slow cooker and add onion, carrots, celery, garlic, parsley, and bay leaf.
  • Add soaked and drained beans. Sprinkle salt over beans. Cover beans with as much water as you can fit in cooker.
  • Cook on Low for 12 hours or High for 8 to 10 hours or until beans and vegetables are tender. Add more water if necessary.
  • Remove bay leaf and soup bone when soup is done.
  • Puree about 1/3 of the soup mixture by using an immersion blender or transferring to a blender or food processor. Or, you can just use a potato masher and mash it around a bit until part of the soup is pureed.
  • Remove ham from bone, dice and add back to soup.
  • Taste for seasoning and adjust.

Notes

Beans would run about 135 Baht for 500 grams. The ham bone can come from another meal, unrelated to the cost here, or you can add a ham hock or pork knuckle (pork knuckle would be excellent in this dish!) that would add another 100 to 200 Baht. Going with the beans and a ham hock, the total would be 235 Baht. That is about $1.20 per meal per person for 6 people. Not bad at all and nutritious as well. Serve with a corn bread on the side for a complete meal. If you use a ham bone from a previous meal, that reduces the cost a lot.
Provided courtesy of good friend, Garland Davis, US Navy Cook (Ret).
United States.