Here's a simple, hearty vegetable soup that will keep you warm and your belly full.
It's great for kids who fuss about having dal and can be served with warm crusty bread or flatbreads.
Parents, if you're constantly worried about your children's protein intake, this is a fun way to offer them toovar dal or yellow split peas.
Yellow Split Pea Soup
Recipe courtesy: California Walnuts
Serves: 2
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 garlic pods, crushed
- 2 tsp chopped green dhania or coriander or cilantro
- 1 tsp haldi or turmeric powder
- 2 vegetable stock cubes
- 1½ litres boiling water
- 250 gm toovar dal or yellow split peas, washed and drained
- 50 gm walnuts, chopped + 15 gm extra
- 4 tbsp plain yoghurt or vegan yoghurt
- 2 tsp harissa, a hot Moroccan sauce, please see the note below
- 1 red chilly, deseeded and finely chopped
- Salt to taste, around 1 tsp
Method
- Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.
Add the chopped onion and fry for 3-4 minutes.
Add the crushed garlic, chopped coriander, turmeric.
Fry for 1-2 minutes. - Dissolve the stock cubes in the boiling water.
To make the vegetable stock from scratch, please see the note below. - Stir in the toovar dal, 50 gm chopped walnuts and the vegetable stock into the saucepan.
Cover and simmer for 45 minutes or until the dal is tender.
Add the salt and stir.
Take off heat.
Puree with a hand-held blender or in a mixer until smooth. - Stir together the yoghurt, harissa, half the red chilly and the remaining walnuts.
- Pour the soup into bowls and drizzle with the harissa-yoghurt mixture.
Sprinkle with remaining chopped chilly to serve.
Editor's Note: To make your own harissa sauce at home, follow Arthur J Pais' recipe for Harissa Sauce.
To make vegetable broth from scratch by boiling 4-5 cups water with 1-2 large roughly chopped carrots, 3 stalks roughly chopped celery with leaves, 2 medium onions chopped in chunks, 5-6 whole black peppercorns, 2 tsp salt, 4 tbsp chopped parsley with stems, 2 laung or cloves, 5 pods garlic, 2 tej patta or bay leaves till vegetables are tender and the water is steeped with the flavour of the vegetables and spices.
Strain and use 2 cups for this recipe.
