Vegetarian Split Pea Soup
I love vegetarian split pea soup because it is healthy and filling. The cayenne gives it a nice kick!
Prep time: 20 min; Total time: 30 min
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup hulled barley
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 1 cup chopped celery
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 1/2 cups chopped carrots or parsnips
- 1 T extra virgin olive oil
- 1 1/4 quarts vegetable broth
- 1 cup dried split peas
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
- Few drops liquid smoke (optional)
- Salt and pepper to taste
Bring a medium-size pot of salted water to a boil, add barley and cook (about 30 min). Drain well.
While the barley is cooking, in a large cast iron or stainless steel skillet, saute onion, celery, garlic, and carrots or parsnips in olive oil for 5 minutes.
Place vegetables, vegetable broth, peas, thyme, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper in a pressure cooker. Cover. When pressure cooker reaches full pressure, cook for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove the pressure cooker from the heat. Add cooked barley and serve.
Tips
If you would like a creamier vegetarian split pea soup, puree soup in a food
processor or blender. Add additional broth to bring the soup to the consistency you desire.
The peas and the barley soak up most of the liquid, so if you follow the recipe exactly, it won't turn out very soupy. I like it that way. However, if you wish, add more broth or use less split peas and/or barley.
You may substitute orzo or other grains instead of barley. If you cook several vegetarian soup recipes, try varying the whole grains to see which one is your favorite.
Go easy on the salt as vegetable broth already contains a lot of salt. Look at the store for low sodium vegetable broth to give yourself more control - you can always add salt but you can't take it out!
You don't need to soak the split peas, but you can if you wish.
If you don't have a pressure cooker, you can still make split pea soup! Pressure cookers reduce cooking time. If you don't have one, use a stainless steel or enamel saucepan or stockpot and cook your peas for about 40 minutes. Soaking your peas overnight may reduce cooking time.
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