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Makes
over 4 cups, 2 1/2 pounds
Author Notes
30+ years ago, I was developing recipes for institutional kitchens which wanted to serve vegetarian foods. We made dry mixes, including a Split Pea Soup Mix — and suggested a spread as another way to use the basic ingredients. Now, inspired by food52, it has evolved just a little, but mostly I’ll leave the tweaking up to you! It’s a dreamy pale color, a nice surprise for people who may not think they like either main ingredient. —susan g
Ingredients
1 cup
green split peas
3/4 cup
diced carrots
1/2 cup
diced onions
1
bay leaf
1/4 – 1/2 teaspoons
Jane’s Crazy Mixed Up Salt*
1/4 teaspoon
fresh ground pepper**
3 tablespoons
cornmeal
2 cups
water (add 1/4 cup or more, if needed)
12.3 ounces
box firm silken tofu
1 tablespoon
tamari soy sauce (gluten free)
Directions
- Put split peas in a 2 quart pot with carrots, onions, bay leaf, cornmeal, water, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then simmer with lid slightly ajar for about an hour, or until the peas are very soft. Stir periodically so that it cooks evenly and does not stick to the bottom of the pot. Add a small amount of water if you need it. It should be mashable, but thick.
- Use an immersion blender to puree in the pot along with the drained tofu and tamari — smooth or chunky. Or transfer to a food processor, when safely cooled, to puree.
- Check seasoning. At this point it is ready to serve, or can be the starting point for seasoning or textural additions. Mayonnaise or yogurt, about 1/2 cup, can be added; Aleppo peppers or hot sauce can spice it up. Garnish with carrot curls. And if you’d prefer soup, another 2 cups of liquid should be about right.
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*Use any tasty seasoned salt, or celery salt.
**For a pepper with more zing, mix 2 parts black peppercorns with 1 part pickling spice with chiles (or add some crushed chiles); put them in a pepper grinder.