I’ve been in a soup mood recently, and today – rainy, hazy and lazy – was another perfect day to cook up a batch.
There is no bacon in this split-pea soup – you’re welcome to add it – only because I wanted to see if I could develop that smoky flavor without it. The parmesan rind is a favorite trick of mine to use in vegetable soups. It is also perfect with a hearty minestrone.
You’ll need:
- 1 cup dried split peas
- 4 cups water
- 1/2 cup frozen peas
- 1/2 large spanish onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 T curry leaves
- 1/2 parmesan rind
- 1/2 t smoked paprika flakes
- 1 bay leaf
- salt, pepper
- red chili flakes
- olive oil
- fresh grated parmesan (for topping)
1. Rince and sort the split peas. In a medium pot, combine split peas and water. Add curry leaves, bay leaf, paprika and bring to a boil. Simmer for 15 minutes more until almost tender.
2. In the meantime, saute onions and garlic with olive oil. Add frozen peas and season lightly with salt and pepper and cook until heated through, another 3-4 minutes.
3. Once the split peas and the stock is simmering and almost tender, add onions, garlic, and peas mixture to the pot. Add the parmesan rind and chili flakes too.
4. Bring back up to a simmer. Taste for season and add salt and pepper, to taste. Turn off heat and cover for about 10-15 minutes before serving (take out the rind, curry and bay leaves) with some more grated parmesan on top.
This looks delicious, a little to ‘autumny’ at the moment (as I try to bring the flavours of summer and spring into the house in order to convince the world that spring is really here), but in a few months time I will really give this a try! 🙂
haha I agree, but we’re having an extremely autumnal day :).
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but no bacon needed. Looks great.
haha I was, of course, thinking of you, when I wrote that!
A delicious warming vege dinner – I love it 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Thank you! We polished it off:)
It has been perpetually rainy and nasty here in HK too. A great soup to warm the spirits and quite healthy too.
Minus the cheese – the amount of which you can control – definitely healthy!
Classic and brilliant.. i love this soup.. it is rainy and cool here too ..actually I am eating one of John’s thai soups at this very minute, on sundays we do not have to sit at the table to eat, we go to soup slobsville.. and read (or in my case bash away at the keyboard) while we eat. your split pea soup looks grand..c
Thanks, C! Bon appetit – hope you are enjoying your Sunday soup 🙂
I’ve done the parmesan rind technique once before, I remember thinking how unusual it was, but sooo awesome for flavor! I made split pea soup last week, but it didn’t turn out to be blog-worth.. as yours certainly has!! Yum!
Thank you, Smidge! I love the parmesan rind idea, it gives it a very nice savory richness.
Love peas!!! Soup would be great on this cold rainy day!!
That’s particularly why I enjoyed it this weekend!
The pea and parmesan soup sounds great. I don’t think that I can find curry leaves where I live…do you have a suggestion for a substitution?
Hmm. Not sure anything would substitute the taste exactly, but since it’s pretty subtle, you can try a little bit of ground turmeric, maybe some dry basil, some more bay, or a tiny bit of kaffir lime if you can get it.
Ooh, the melting parmesan has me drooling already!
Nothing quite like it, is there :)?