Light, quick, nutritious, and easy, this creamy, filling Green Split Pea Soup is perfect for dinner on those fresh spring nights.
Why we ❤️ it
Quick, summer is coming soon! It's still cool enough to eat soup without melting into a puddle of sweat, and just enough for a nice serving of Green Split Pea Soup.
Enter this soup: it is so creamy, so filling, so tasty, that you'll be putting it on rotation. This delicious chícharo bean soup is just perfect for cool nights too.
About split peas
Split peas -- called chícharo, or arvejas partidas in Spanish -- are dry peas that have been peeled, and without the peel, the two halves split. There are green and yellow varieties of peas.
Without the peel, the peas will dissolve during the cooking process, which will produce a thicker stew.
While split peas (arvejas partidas, for Dominicans) are not very common on the Dominican table, we can always find at local supermarkets.
Benefits
Split peas are high in protein, and contains high amount of fiber, and is low in fat.
About this recipe
It is quite light, but filling; on top of that it is very easy and quick to prepare, and if you have a pressure cooker it won't take more than 15 minutes to serving time. If you have a slow cooker, and the time, even better, as the flavors are better released using this method. Both methods are perfect for the working parent in charge of feeding the family.
You can prepare this as a vegan or a meat-lovers' dish - both options are included.
Recipe
Green Split Pea Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 2½ cup green split peas
- 4 low-fat turkey or chicken sausages, (optional)
- 4 potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
- 1 large carrot, peels and cut into cubes
- 2 celery stalk, sliced
- 1 sprig cilantro
- 2 cilantro ancho / culantro leaves, (optional)
- 1 large red onion, cut into eighths
- 4 allspice berries (malagüeta)
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1½ quart boiling-hot water, [1½ lt]
- 4 teaspoons olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon pepper (freshly-cracked, or ground)
Instructions
Combining: Place split peas, sausages, potatoes, carrot, celery, cilantro, culantro, onion, allspice, and a teaspoon of salt in the pot (or pressure cooker or crock pot).Add boiling-hot water.
Cooking in a normal (3 quart [3 lt]) pot
Cooking: Cook over medium heat until all the ingredients are cooked through and the peas have dissolved completely (25-30 minutes). Stir regularly to avoid sticking.
Cooking in a pressure cooker
- Cooking: Cook for 15 minutes counting from the time the pressure valve starts whistling. Open pressure cooker (after cooling, according to the manufacturer manual) and check that the peas have dissolved completely. Cook for another 5 minutes if necessary.
Cooking in a crockpot
- Cooking: Cook for 4 hours over medium heat, or 7 hours over low heat.
Serving: To finish (regardless of cooking method), remove allspice berries, drizzle with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper to taste. It goes great with some rustic bread.
Tips and Notes
Vegan green split peas soup
To make it a vegan dish just skip the sausage, the peas in themselves contain a lot of protein.Nutrition
Nutritional information is calculated automatically based on ingredients listed. Please consult your doctor if you need precise nutritional information.
