Vegetarian Split Pea Soup

Photo Courtesy of Brad Lovejoy

After such extravagant holiday eating, we are officially in need of a week that includes healthy vegetarian meals and lots of exercise. To start things off, I looked in my cupboards to see what ingredients I might already have on hand. I ran across a bag of dried organic split peas and decided that a vegetarian split pea soup would get our eating right back on track. I have never prepared vegetarian split pea soup (I usually make it with ham) but about ninety percent of the soups I make from scratch are vegetarian. I found the following recipe and moved ahead with preparation.

Ingredients:

3 cups dried split peas

6 to 7 cups vegetable broth or water

1 bay leaf

1 tsp dried mustard

2 tsp kosher salt

1 carrot, diced

3 celery stalks, diced

2 cups onion, diced

1 potato, diced

4 medium garlic cloves, minced

freshly ground black pepper

1 to 4 tsp balsamic vinegar or red wine vinegar, to taste

Optional Toppings:

sesame oil

fresh ripe tomatoes, diced

fresh parsley, minced

Place first five ingredients in a large pot. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer partially covered for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent split peas from sticking to bottom of pot. Add onions, garlic, celery, carrot and potato (you can saute these first or add them directly to soup for fat free soup).

Partially cover and allow to simmer for about 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. You may need to add more water. Serve topped with a drizzle of sesame oil, tomatoes and/or parsley if desired. Season to taste with pepper and vinegar. Serves 6 to 8 people.

This soup smelled heavenly while simmering on the stove. The final result was hearty, healthy, tasty and perfect for a stormy day like today. Balsamic vinegar was brilliant in this recipe and even though the addition of sesame oil sounds strange, it really worked. Prep time was about 20 minutes and consisted only of dicing and mincing vegetables along with occasional stirring. I highly recommend this recipe if you are craving healthy soup that requires minimal preparation.

Recipe Source:

food.com