We went from 40F degrees here at the beginning of the week to a cold snap of below zero temps in a matter of one day. It is kind of a shock to the system, and sometimes I wonder how as a high schooler I spent every day in the Winter practically outside at nordic skiing practice. Lots of layers I guess and moving around a lot. But it feels so much colder now for some reason. I shouldn’t complain though, we are having a warmer than average Winter over all and it is supposed to warm up again soon. Either way, I have been making warming comfort food dishes to take the chill off after being outside. One of which was a Creamy Coconut Curried Split Pea Soup!
One of my coworkers in the deli I work at had recently made a split pea soup for the customers and I thought it sounded good. I hadn’t made any in a really long time at home, and I had a bunch of split peas in the cupboard ( I bought way to many the last time I bought them) and I knew that use them up soon. The reason I hadn’t made split pea in a while was because the last time I made it was kind of a disaster. I am one of those people who tries to squeeze in too many things at once to multi task at because I want to get a lot done, and I had the split pea soup cooking on the stove while I did other things and I burned it on the bottom. That is like the worst feeling in the world, when you have to throw a pot of soup away because it tastes burnt (I hate wasting things). And, it happens quickly with split pea because it is thick. So just so you all know, I have kitchen disasters too. One time someone said to me she imagined me like I had a magic kitchen where everything goes perfect and I had spices dancing around and whatnot, but that is so far from the truth. It is sometimes a disaster area and it is not usually neat until I am done cooking and clean up. So never feel bad if you mess up once in a while when you are making things. Anyways, back to my soup I made this week.
I made it similar to a classic split pea, and included the carrots, onions and celery as well as hearty potatoes. But for the flavor, I used mild curry powder to give it a nice warming spices quality. It was so good with the split peas! I wanted to add a little richness too, since this recipe actually isn’t made with any oil, so I added in some full fat coconut milk at the end. It made the texture smooth and silky. This soup is so good! Even though split peas take a while to cook, this really doesn’t require much hands on time or anything and is pretty simple to make. So if you are a split pea soup fan or you just want some healthy warming comfort food because it is cold right now where you live too, give this a go!
Creamy Coconut Curried Split Pea Soup
Serves 2
Ingredients:
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 2 stalks celery, sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 cup dried split peas
- 3 cups filtered water
- 1 Tbsp mild curry powder
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (more or less depending on the spice level you want)
- sea salt to taste
- 2 medium organic carrots, sliced
- 3 medium organic red potatoes, diced
- 1/2 cup full fat coconut milk
Instructions:
- In a pot, combine all ingredients but the carrots and potatoes, and bring to a boil.
- Lower to a simmer, and cook until the split peas are softened, about 40 minutes, then add the carrots and potatoes and cook until they are tender and the split peas are falling apart.
- Stir in the coconut milk until well combined and serve!
