Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Curried Split Peas and Carrots


Curried Split Peas and Carrots, originally uploaded by essgee51.
Alas, no ham hocks handy, but I still wanted some split pea goodness. Followed a base recipe for Kenyan curried split peas from Extending the Table, added standard mirepoix portions of celery and carrots (my fridge contains a softening surplus of both), and cooked till the peas were mushy. Very good with rice and sausage - sort-of roasting the spices gave it a wonderfully warm tang.
  • 1 cup split peas
  • 2 tbsp. oil (used olive)
  • 2 medium onions, chopped (around 2 cups)
  • 2 celery stalks, chopped (around 1 cup)
  • 2 medium carrots, chopped (around 1 cup)
  • 6-8 cloves garlic, chopped (about 2 tbsp.)
  • 2 tbsp. curry powder
  • 2 tsp. cumin
  • 1 tsp. salt
Soak the peas or pre-heat if you're into that (I was lazy and didn't). Put the peas in a pot with 3-1/2 cups of water, bring to a boil, then simmer. Cook till the peas are mushy (recipe claimed 45 minutes with pre-soaked peas, took me more like 1-1/2 hours with unsoaked ones), adding the celery and carrot about halfway through (I like to keep a bit of firmness in both).

Meanwhile, put oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and cook till they're translucent, about 3-5 minutes.

Add the garlic and cook till it's aromatic, about 1-3 minutes.

Add the curry powder, cumin and salt and stir to coat thoroughly (the bottom of the pan was pretty dry by then, so the spices got semi-toasted, which added a nice pop to the flavors). Cook for another minute or two.

Combine the spice mixture with the peas and stir thoroughly. Adjust seasoning then serve over rice.

No comments:

Post a Comment