Black Bean and Chicken Tamale Soup (gluten free)

Black Bean and Chicken Tamale Soup

Black beans, tomatoes, and "tamale" noodles liven up home made chicken soup with Southwest style.  Just how lively, is up to you. Ours was pretty mild, spice-wise, and our kids loved it. The gluten free egg noodles were made with masa harina, the same corn flour used in tamales. This is a two-step crock pot soup that you can prepare ahead of time.

To a crock pot, add:

4 organic chicken thighs
8 cups of water

Cook on "high" for four hours, or overnight on "low." Gently transfer the chicken to a bowl. Remove the skin and bones and return the meat to the pot. (Save the skin and bones in a ziplock in the freezer for future bone broth.) Add the following to the crock pot, and cook on "high" for another three to four hours, or on "low" all day:

1 cup dry black beans, sorted
2 tomatoes, skinned and chopped or 1 can unsalted chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp paprika
1 tsp cilantro
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp to 1 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp to 1 tsp chili powder
chopped chiles or chipotles (optional. I wish our kids liked more heat.)

Add cooked tamale noodles and salt the soup to taste before serving. (I used two teaspoons of "lite" salt for the whole pot, so each big bowl as we prepared it had under 250mg of sodium, compared to  Campbell's Select Harvest Mexican Style Chicken Tortilla soup containing 410-650mg per cup. Add salt one teaspoon at a time and stir well then taste after each addition.)

Tamale Noodles (gluten free)

2 eggs
3/4 cups water
2 cups masa harina
1/2 tsp salt (optional)

Beat the eggs with a whisk or fork and beat in the water until frothy. Stir in the masa harina, then knead the mixture to make a soft dough. Roll out the dough to about between an eighth and a quarter of an inch (3mm to 6mm) in thickness. Whether you choose to make then thicker or thinner doesn't matter as long as they are consistent. Thicker noodles will be easier to lift from the counter. Cut the noodles into strips, then to noodles no more than two inches long, since the longer ones tend to snap. Drop them into boiling water for about ten minutes, drain, and transfer the cooked noodles to your soup.

(Believe it or not, this soup recipe was inspired by one for Lentil Soup with Lemon that a friend sent me this week. We didn't have any chicken stock, but we had chicken. No lentils, but we had black beans... Thanks, Sann, for the idea. I'll put the ingredients to make it your way on our next grocery list.)

I shared this link with Sunday Night Soup Night, Real Food 101,  Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Traditional Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, Gluten Free Wednesdays, Allergy Free Wednesday and Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways,  Real Food Wednesday,  Simple Lives Thursday,  Fight Back! Friday and Empty Your Archives!

www.stealthymom.com