My Mom's "Bohnensuppe" (Navy Bean Soup)

This is my Mom's delicious navy bean recipe. A hearty soup with German wiener sausages and served with crusty bread to dunk into it. The difference between the German and American wiener sausage is, that the German version uses pork instead of beef, turkey or chicken. You can of course substitute with American sausage.

For this soup, my Mom uses a big can of navy beans that already comes a little bit spiced with soup greens (tiny bits of carrots, celery and parsley). However, if you cannot find such a can, you can also use plain navy beans, add some more spices and maybe a few tablespoons of finely chopped carrots, celery and parsley.

Ingredients

• 1 big can "Weisse Bohnen mit Suppengrün" 

(alternatively: 2 small cans of navy beans,  2 tablespoons of finely chopped carrots, 2 tablespoons finely chopped celery, 1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley, 1 Tablespoon Vegetable Bouillon spices such as Knorr or Maggie)

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1/2 tablespoon butter
• 1 small onion - diced
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2-3 potatoes - diced in 1-2 inch cubes
• 2 cups water
• 2-3 German wiener sausages (pork) - sliced
• 3 tablespoon flour (mixed with 3-4 tablespoon water)
• salt and pepper
• vegeta 

• Serve with crusty bread

Preparation

Note: The big can with "Weisse Bohnen mit Suppengrün" basically just contains navy beans with some soup flavor (small pieces of carrots, celery and parsley, salted). If you do not find such a can, just use normal navy beans. Sometimes the navy beans come already slightly salted. Most of them come with some bacon in it, but I don't really like that. If you just use plain navy beans, you may want to add about 2 Tablespoon of finely chopped carrots and celery and a dash of freshly chopped parsley. 

1. Heat the oil and butter, add the onions and sauté till translucent (about 5-10 min).
2. Add the tomato paste, stir and let cook for about 2 minutes.
3. Add the potatoes, some salt. Stir and let cook for about 5 minutes.
4. Add the water and the navy beans (with the water in the can). If you use plain navy beans, also add the finely chopped carrots, celery and parsley and add 1 teaspoon vegetable bouillon spice. Stir and let cook for about 15 minutes, till the potatoes are soft.
5. Add the slices of wiener sausage.
6. Thicken the soup: in an extra bowl, mix the flour with some water so that it is free of clumps. Pour a little bit of the mix into the boiling soup and stir. Let cook a little bit. If not thick enough, add more. Be careful, it will thicken up even more after you take it off the heat.
7. Add salt, pepper and vegeta to taste and serve with some crusty bread.

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