08 February 2014

Weekend Cooking: From Slow to Fast: A Warming Split Pea Curry

Weekend Cooking hosted by www.BethFishReads.comWeekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page. For more information, see the welcome post.

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© cbl for www. BethFishReads.comWhen this week's cold, snowy days had me craving something bright, yet warming, curry was one of the first things that came to mind. I've been crazy busy with work, so my second thought was to use the slow cooker.

I looked through some cookbooks and realized that with a few minor changes I could make a recipe for lentil stew (found in American Test Kitchen's Slow Cooker Revolution cookbook) work for us. I had baked bread the night before and was looking forward to my nice dinner.

That is until I realized at about 5:00 pm that I had forgotten to start the curry at lunchtime. What's a resourceful cook to do? I turned that curry from a slow-cooked stew into a quick-cooked soup in the blink of an eye and a switch in equipment. Have I told you lately how much I love my pressure cooker? Within about an hour, we were sitting down to a delicious, aromatic, healthful dinner.

Curried Yellow Split Pea Soup
(adapted from Slow Cooker Revolution)
Serves 4–6
    © cbl for www. BethFishReads.com
  • 5 cups low-sodium chicken broth
  • 1 (14-ounce) can coconut milk
  • 1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes with the juice
  • 2 onions, roughly chopped
  • 6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
  • ½ teaspoon ground coriander
  • ½ teaspoon ground cumin
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
  • ½ teaspoon hot red pepper flakes
  • ⅛ teaspoon ground cardamom
  • Salt and black pepper to taste
  • 2¼ cups yellow split peas (about 1 pound), picked over and rinsed
  • 1 pound carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 cup frozen green peas
  • ⅓ cup chopped fresh cilantro
  • Hot sauce (optional)
Put the broth, coconut milk, and tomatoes into your pressure cooker over high heat. Add the onions, garlic, spices, split peas, and carrots. Stir in the the oil (needed to prevent foaming in the cooker). Lock on the lid and let come to high pressure. Cook 10 minutes at high pressure, remove from the heat and let the pressure release naturally.

Open the lid carefully (tilt it away from you so you don't get burned) and return the cooker to medium heat. Taste the soup for seasoning and adjust as necessary. Add the frozen green peas and cilantro and cook until the peas are just heated through. Serve with hot sauce (we like Sriracha) and homemade bread.

Cooking tips: Try this in your slow cooker or on the stovetop in a regular soup pot.

33 comments:

rhapsodyinbooks 2/8/14, 7:14 AM  

This looks great! ....trying to decide if I'm too lazy...

Anonymous,  2/8/14, 7:21 AM  

This looks amazing, very appropriate for this time of the year.

Booksnyc 2/8/14, 8:02 AM  

I might give this a try while I am still on liquids post surgery - it looks like it has a lot of taste and would be nice pureed too.

grammajudyb 2/8/14, 8:06 AM  

I've never made curry anything. I may have to give it a try though, it looks really good.

Sheila (Bookjourney) 2/8/14, 8:10 AM  

On yet another incredibly cold day here in Minnesota... the soup looks wonderful!

bermudaonion 2/8/14, 8:17 AM  

That looks and sounds delicious! I like a soup better than a stew anyway.

Amanda 2/8/14, 8:20 AM  

Delicious! We just had yellow split pea soup this week actually. :)

Unknown 2/8/14, 8:22 AM  

I love soups with coconut milk in them. A pressure cooker is one thing I don't have. Yet. :)

Sarah (Sarah's Book Shelves) 2/8/14, 8:22 AM  

That sounds so warm and comforting - love the curry! And very impressed that you have attempted the pressure cooker…I always see it on Iron Chef and it looks difficult!

Too Fond 2/8/14, 8:23 AM  

That looks really good, Beth! Loving your Indian recipes.

(Diane) bookchickdi 2/8/14, 8:23 AM  

When we owned a Mexican fast food restaurant, we made our refried beans in this HUGE pressure cooker on the stove in the kitchen. It scared the heck out of me when it released the steam.

jama 2/8/14, 8:40 AM  

Don't have a pressure cooker, but could certainly try this on the stove. Love all those spices!

jama 2/8/14, 8:40 AM  

Don't have a pressure cooker, but could certainly try this on the stove. Love all those spices!

Vicki 2/8/14, 8:48 AM  

You know how most kids throw candy, cookies etc. in the shopping cart at the grocery store? Not my daughter. She threw bags of split pea soup in mine. Yep, she loves the stuff. We just recently discovered curry and both of us love it, so I'll definitely be making this!!

Beth S. 2/8/14, 9:50 AM  

That's interesting you used the pressure cooker. I never would've thought to do that for a soup.

Laurie C 2/8/14, 11:45 AM  

I bet that was a shock to see those cold ingredients sitting there in the slow cooker instead of that nice hot stew you were expecting! Good save with the pressure cooker! The recipe sounds delicious...

Jackie McGuinness 2/8/14, 12:39 PM  

I love pea soup!! Always an argument green vs yellow peas in our house. My mom always made green and hubby likes yellow.

Mari 2/8/14, 12:54 PM  

Yummy. Sounds delicious.

Carole 2/8/14, 1:07 PM  

Hi, thanks again for the great link up. I will try to put my broccoli dish in but if it doesn't work the address is - http://caroleschatter.blogspot.co.nz/2014/02/Broccoli-mustard-onion-sesame-seeds-recipe.html
Cheers

Carole 2/8/14, 1:18 PM  

I got the link up by using my iPad instead of my pc on which internet explorer is being a pain. Should have thought of the ipad option last time!

Kerry Ann @Vinobaby's Voice 2/8/14, 3:29 PM  

I could use a bowl of that about now. Delish!

Peaceful Reader 2/8/14, 6:13 PM  

Everyone is trying to stay warm with soup! This sounds wonderfully soothing.

Joy 2/8/14, 6:44 PM  

That sounds yummy. I have neither a slow cooker or a pressure cooker, but I'm so tempted by both!

Joy's Book Blog

Couscous & Consciousness 2/9/14, 3:08 AM  

I love split peas in curries and soups, and I love that you managed to save the day by switching out your pressure cooker instead of the slow cooker.

shelleyrae @ book'd out 2/9/14, 8:11 AM  

Soup is perfect when it cold though my fav is plain tomato soup.
Shelleyrae @ Book'd Out

Daryl 2/9/14, 8:33 AM  

i linked this week because i ate my way through the weekend ... i love curry if i cooked i would try this

Daryl 2/9/14, 8:33 AM  

i linked this week because i ate my way through the weekend ... i love curry if i cooked i would try this

Daryl 2/9/14, 8:33 AM  

i linked this week because i ate my way through the weekend ... i love curry if i cooked i would try this

Daryl 2/9/14, 8:33 AM  

i linked this week because i ate my way through the weekend ... i love curry if i cooked i would try this

Trish @ Love, Laughter, Insanity 2/9/14, 11:15 AM  

I have all of the ingredients except for split peas--how do you think it would be with lentils? We are going to have some more freezing temps and possible snow tomorrow and I know soup would certainly warm us up!

Anonymous,  2/9/14, 8:15 PM  

I love soups this time of year. Haven't made split pea in a while, something else to try again.

Anonymous,  2/10/14, 3:00 PM  

Even though the content list is long, I have almost ALL of these with the exception of a few which I can find or make easily. Thank you for sharing, I think this is going to be a weekend soup for us, I iwll let you know how it turns out.

Thank you for posting about it on my request :)

-Veens

How Jess Reads 2/10/14, 6:31 PM  

Hm... I'm not a big soup person; I probably wouldn't like this one! But the pressure cooker sounds awesome!

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