Dahl Soup

Well, as I mentioned, I’ve just shifted house, and now have a lovely new kitchen to play in! I had planned to make a fancy meal over the weekend to celebrate the big shift and new kitchen, and Kat’s suggestion of gnocchi was very appealing. However, in the event, I was just too damn tired to be bothered cooking anything much (I just managed a stir-fry on Saturday night because I had the ingredients in the house for that and really really couldn’t face going to the shop for anything else!) and then fish with wedges last night (lovely, but not exactly a revolutionary concept. Actually it was very good though – I used whiting which is a terribly unpopular fish over here, which means it is very cheap. They are so obsessed with the precious cod in the UK, and I think it’s horrid – almost always less-than fresh, over-priced and their obsession with it means that it has been over-fished. I’m delighted to have found a cheaper, fresher, more sustainable alternative! Anyway, I digress…) I’ve felt a bit poorly since the move (brought on by tiredness I’m sure), and I have just been craving the soothing warmth of soup. Yesterday when I was wandering around the supermarket in a bit of a daze, doing the week’s groceries, I saw a packet of yellow split peas and grabbed them. It’s not an ingredient I’ve ever bought before, but I had a suspicion that I could make a lovely soup with them. I didn’t have a recipe, although a bit of Googling brought forth a host of options.

The most traditional soup is pea and ham, but I didn’t have a ham hock handy (does anyone ever really have a ham hock handy?) There’s a very nice sounding French option called Faubonne soup which has celeriac and sorrel in it – but again, I had neither of those in the house. The Hungarians do a version with ham and parsnip, but we’ve already established I had no ham, and nor did I have parsnip. But, what I do always have are spices a-plenty. So when I came across a recipe called Egyptian Cream soup which has ginger, chilli, garlic, cumin and saffron in it, it sounded like just what the Dr ordered. Of course, saffron is about the one spice that I don't currently have in the cupboard, so I just threw turmeric in the mix for a bit of colour and in doing so, I seem to have shifted my soup from the banks of the Nile to the bustling streets of Delhi. In fact, I’ve decided to call this Dahl Soup because that’s exactly what it tastes like to me! It’s smooth, filling, creamy and spicy and has a gorgeous yellowy autumnal colour – just the thing when you’re feeling tired or blue!


Dahl Soup

300g yellow split peas, soaked in cold water overnight
1 large onion, chopped
1 medium carrot, chopped
1-2 large cloves of garlic, chopped
1 tbsp (ish) of fresh ginger, chopped
Good glug or two of olive oil
2 tsp whole cumin seeds
1 ½ tsp ground cumin
1 ½ tsp ground coriander
½ tsp ground chilli (I would have put in a whole fresh chilli, chopped, except I didn’t have any)
½ tsp turmeric (I put in a whole tsp but think it overpowered the other spices)
1.5 litres hot water plus a stock cube (or 1.5 litres of home made stock…I’d used all my frozen stuff before shifting, so it was a cube for me!)
Salt to taste (start with about a tsp and see how you like it – pulses tend to need a fair bit of salt I think)
Fresh coriander to sprinkle on top to serve

Heat oil over medium heat. Sweat onion and carrot. Once softened, add garlic and ginger (and fresh chilli if you’re using that instead) and whole cumin seeds. Cook a minute or two then add the ground spices. Cook for a minute then add your drained peas and stock. Bring to the boil then simmer for about an hour or until the peas are soft. Blitz with a hand-held blender thingy (or any other blitzing device) and serve with chopped coriander and whatever else you fancy. I had it with loads of garlicky croutons which was really yummy, but a splosh of cream or yoghurt would also be nice (as would a Naan bread for dunking!).