Yellow Split Pea Soup

Submitted by Jazmina

"This smooth yellow soup is from The Greens cookbook and can be served with an optional Spiced Yogurt. The peas benefit from being soaked for 2 hours-they will break down more quickly and absorb less liquid when cooked."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 15mins
• Ingredients: 19
• Serves: 4-6

ingredients

• 2 tablespoons clarified butter (or 1 tbs each butter and olive oil)
• 1 large yellow onion, diced . 25 inch pieces
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 inch fresh ginger, minced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 3 ground cloves
• 1 3⁄4 cups dry split yellow peas, soaked for 2 hours
• 1 celery heart, diced (two stalks)
• 2 medium carrots, diced
• 7 cups water or 7 cups stock
• 1 lemon, juice and zest of, grated
• 1⁄2 cup plain yogurt (optional)
• 1⁄2 teaspoon turmeric (optional)
• 1⁄2 teaspoon paprika (optional)
• 1⁄4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
• 1⁄4 teaspoon ground cumin (optional)
• 1 pinch salt (optional)

directions

1. Warm clarified butter or butter and olive oil in soup pot and add onion, garlic, ginger, bay leaf, and salt.
2. Add in cumin and cloves and cook on medium low for 3-4 minutes.
3. Drain peas and add them in along with celery carrots and the water or stock.
4. Bring to a boil then simmer until the peas have fallen apart, about 45 minutes.
5. Blend soup and add in more water or stock to achieve your desired consistency.
6. Season to taste with salt and the lemon peel and juice.
7. Serve soup on it's own or topped with the spiced yogurt.
8. For spiced yogurt simply whisk yogurt until smooth and add in all the optional spices stirring until it's all combined.

Reviews

[VegSocialWorker]

Oh my, this was the best split pea soup I have ever had. Really. The flavors were fantastic and it is so easy to make. I accidently left out the cloves and the lemon juice and zest and it was still so full of flavor. The intense yogurt is what really makes this soup special. I used all of the optional spices and it was perfect. Thank you for posting this recipe, it will be a winter staple in this house. Also, I left out all of the butter and oil and used fat free yogurt- and you can't tell at all thanks to all of the other flavors. Yumm.

 

[La Dilettante]

Lovely, lovely, Jazmina! I made this for a friend who is "laid up" after foot surgery, and requested that I make her some lentil soup. Well I had no lentils handy, but did have a pound of yellow split peas, and voila'! This is a keeper, and one I'll surely make often this winter. The flavors are ambrosial!

 

[Chriswaterguy]

I bought ground cloves rather than grinding myself, and used 1/4 of a tsp. I didn't have carrot or celery, so used sweet potato, which was okay - but I'm sure the carrot and celery would work much better. I didn't particularly like the spiced yoghurt when I tasted it on its own, but it was quite good once mixed in.