I may have the only child in the world who begs for split pea soup as an after-school snack, but I’m not complaining. Yesterday I needed to cook dinner early because we were going out to dinner. To you non-vegetarians, that statement probably makes no sense at all, but the vegetarians and vegans out there will know what I mean. Whenever a vegetarian attends a catered event like an awards dinner, she can never be sure of getting a vegetarian meal, so it’s wise to eat a little something beforehand. I figured split pea soup would make a nice pre-meal insurance policy for D. and me and a great dinner for E., who was staying home.
So when E. got home yesterday, she walked into a house filled with the scent of curry powder and ginger, and she wanted her bowl of soup NOW. Well, you can tell that she’s an only child because I immediately caved and let her have her soup at 3:30 in the afternoon. I couldn’t resist having my soup then too, blowing my plan to eat right before the dinner. (Fortunately, there was indeed a vegetarian plate because by 8 pm I was hungry again.)
This is a soup that smells enticing and tastes divine. It’s not a spicy curry, thanks to the type of curry powder I used. Penzeys’ Maharajah Style Curry Powder is a little on the expensive side, due to the hefty amount of saffron it contains, but it imparts a rich, almost sweet taste to any food you use it in. If you can’t get the Maharajah curry powder, any good-quality mild curry will do, but for a real treat, try the Maharajah. It works particularly well with the sweet potatoes in this delicious soup.
Yellow Split-Pea Soup with Sweet Potatoes and Kale
You may cook this soup either in a pressure cooker or in a regular pot. You will need to have a pressure cooker that has at least a 7-quart capacity; for smaller cookers, cut the recipe in half or in thirds. Also, if you’re using a jiggle-top pressure cooker, add one teaspoon of oil to prevent foaming.
Ingredients
- 2 medium onions, chopped
- 1 1/2 teaspoons whole cumin
- 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
- 1/8 – 1/4 teaspoon canola oil (necessary for tempering the spices)
- 2 teaspoons ginger paste or 1 tablespoon finely minced fresh ginger
- 2 teaspoons finely minced garlic
- 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
- 8 cups water
- 3 cups dried yellow split peas, picked over and rinsed
- 1-2 tablespoons mild curry powder (to taste)
- Salt to taste (optional)
- 1 bunch kale
Instructions
- Spray a large pressure cooker or pot with cooking spray and sauté the onions for about 5 minutes. When they are becoming translucent, push them to one side and pour the cumin and mustard seeds directly onto the bottom of the pot. Pour the canola oil over the seeds and stir them lightly. As soon as the seeds begin to pop, mix them in with the onions. Add the ginger and garlic, and cook for one more minute. Add the sweet potatoes, water, split peas and 1 tablespoon curry powder. Stir well.
- If using a pressure cooker, seal the cooker and bring it up to high pressure. Cook at high pressure for 8 minutes; then remove from the heat and allow the pressure to come down naturally.
- If you’re cooking it in a regular pot, cover the pot and simmer until the split peas are tender and beginning to break down, about an hour. Stir regularly to make sure that the split peas don’t stick to the bottom of the pan, and add water if necessary.
- While the soup is cooking, wash the kale and remove and discard the tough central rib. Chop the leaves coarsely. When the split peas are cooked, add the kale to the pot, season to taste with salt and additional curry powder, if necessary, and add additional water if the soup is too thick. Cover the pot. For kale that retains some crunch, simply leave the pot covered for 5 or 10 minutes without heating, allowing the kale to cook in the heat of the soup. For kale that is more tender, you may return the pot to low heat for 10 minutes.
Preparation time: 10 minute(s) | Cooking time: 30 minute(s)
Number of servings (yield): 8
Nutrition Facts
Makes about 8 servings. Per serving (without salt, using 1/4 tsp. oil): 309 Calories (kcal); 2g Total Fat; (4% calories from fat); 20g Protein; 57g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 28mg Sodium; 21g Fiber.
Share This Recipe:
{ 49 comments… read them below or add one }
Yum! Yet another wonderful recipe!
I've made this soup at least 5 times, and I totally love it. I think it's my favorite soup ever. Thanks for sharing your recipes!
I’m not vegan, or even vegetarian, but in an effort to be more responsible to the planet, as well as raise a healthier family without any processed foods whatsoever we are eating vegan 6 days a week (and organic, locavore one day per week). We’re healthier, and greener and happier (and saving a ton of cash). I found this soup over a year ago, and my 6 and 7 year old still do the jumpy claps when it’s for supper. It’s seriously amazing. Thank you for this recipe, and for all the others on this site. This is far and away my favourite cooking website.
I HAVE to try this one next time I make soup!!! I have all the ingredients and I LOVE split pea soup! I crave it and I always feel the best when I am eating it. Id love to try a variation on my usual traditional split pea! PS- Way to go Krista! I don’t have any kids, but I am outraged at what they call kid’s food now-a-days. There are a lot of kids that rarely see a whole food. Their fruit comes in the form a processed oat bar, their veggies in the form of pizza. Way to go!
Finally made it! Only had one onion and had to make it with kale and chard (and carrots, just kinda threw all the needs-to-get-used veggies in). Its WONDERFUL!
We love split pea soup here too! I made it for the first time a few months ago and even my boys ask for it every other week! The yellow is beautiful and looks delicious!
Thanks for sharing your recipes with us. You have posted some really good ones. I put a link to this recipe on the FB site: The full plate diet. It looked really good and healthy.
This sounds incredibly delicious and healthy! Thank you for the recipe.
Great soup. Used swiss chard and zucchini instead of kale. Will warm me up for many days.
This recipe may as well read, “Throw all your favorite foods in a pot.” SO good, and makes cold weather a little more bearable.
This soup looks awesome. I’ll bet it tastes awesome, too! Thanks so much for all these yummy recipes. I can hardly wait to make this, now that fall is here!
loved this. my 3 year old had to be bribed to eat it with carrots, but everyone else at it with no problem. I used the spice cumin, not whole cumin. I also used dried mustard with vinegar not the mustard seeds. I also added more kale than the recipe called for. If I did this again I would only use 7 cups of water and add more if needed.
I have made this several times and it has become my usually reticent husband’s favorite soup. He has even gone out of his way to request it. And I love that it tastes so good and is so balanced nutrition-wise . Thank you so much!
Such a delicious, hearty soup for our surprisingly cold winter in Western Canada! I made it pretty much true to recipe, other than a tiny addition of cayenne pepper (maybe an 1/8th of a tsp) for extra warmth and Bragg instead of salt (love it for soups, really adds an extra dimension of flavour). Even with the cayenne the spices aren’t over powering, so you can still taste the peas and sweet potato. I also used purple kale, as it looked really good at the market, and in the soup. I highly recommend trying this soup, its delicious and easy.
I have made this recipe twice now, and love it! My peas never really break down though, so it doesn’t look like in your picture. What am I doing wrong? I soaked them all day this time and cooked it for almost 4 hours. Still tastes great, but doesn’t really resemble the split pea soup I’m used to.
Katie, can you try buying your split-peas somewhere else? It could be that wherever you’re getting them from has old beans. The older they are, the longer they can take to cook. Still, I’ve never heard of split peas taking that long!
I have a lot of green split peas in my cupboard that I want to use. Can I substitute them for the yellow split peas? I’ve actually never tried the latter if their taste is substantially different. I cook with various beans, lentils, green and red split peas all the time however.
They taste just about the same, so feel free to use the green split peas.
This soup is currently simmering upon my stove on this cold California evening and it smells delicious! Thank you for sharing!
Question: This is probably a stupid question, but did you puree the soup in a food processor, judging my your photograph, or do split peas naturally become creamy when they are cooked?
That’s natural, Nikki. If you cook it long enough, they should start to break down. Enjoy!
I’ve seen this recipe repeated on a few sites, and I don’t know why, because it’s incredibly bland, almost tasteless.
You can make it taste like something by adding about 3x the curry powder (or at least a mix of cumin/coriander/cayenne…plus whatever other Indian spices you like) and some salt.
Vegan cuisine can be delicious, but this recipe will confirm non-vegans’ ideas that it’s all tasteless mush.
You must be using really old, bland curry powder because 1-2 tablespoons is spicy enough for most people. But as you found (and as the instructions suggest), it’s easy just to add more to taste.
I think vegans probably have more subtle palates
One hint I would like to give is to add a few toasted, sliced almonds on top. It adds a nice crunch, is in keeping with the Indian theme and only adds a few pennies per serving. It’s a nice textural contrast, even if your kale is still crunchy
Another success Susan.
Carnivorous(well, a little less so as I try your various recipes on him) husband gave it a big thumbs up–who knew he actually loves kale?
To accomodate Ornish plan guidelines I used much less oil–just a thin film in the cast iron pot.
I don’t think the recipe suffered from that variation as it turned out so delicious.
Always grateful, Kensington Kicker
I’ve had this recipe bookmarked for a long time, but finally made it tonight. It’s so delicious, healthy, and filling! I typically love most lentil/split pea recipes, but I especially liked the combo of split peas and sweet potatoes.
I love this recipe and it was so easy and super fast in my pressure cooker. I WOULD love more pressure cooker recipes like this one.
I couldn’t find Yellow Split Peas here so I just used Green and it tastes great!
Hi Susan:
This sounds yummy! This would be great to come home to; any suggestions for preparation using a slow-cooker?
Hi! Looks delish!
I loved your idea to add in some kale!
Mentioned it here in a post!
http://gobakeorgohome.blogspot.com/2011/12/smoky-wintery-split-pea-soup.html
susan,
just tried the soup recipe and it’s really good. i used stock instead of water and threw in some soy bacon and a little russet potato, and pureed about a half of the soup for texture., fantastic. thanks. claudia woo
Do you think a a yam would work ok in this recipe? I have everything else on hand but the sweet potato. Thanks!
By the way, I love your blog
Can I substitute spinach for kale?
Yes. Spinach cooks faster, so add it right at the end.
cooked this with a white-fleshed sweet potato. This soup was delicious.
Just made this tonight for my packed lunch for the week. Oh my, sooo good! I know its just going to get better the longer it sits. Thanks for posting this, I know this soup will be in rotation!
This soup was dinner tonight and it was AMAZING!
Even my son — who claims to hate sweet potatoes– cleaned his bowl!
Thanks so much for this recipe! I am trying it right now. For those who are using a pressure cooker, what do you suggest regarding the kale? I noticed the kale instructions are only for the regular pot users, so to speak
After the split peas are cooked in the pressure cooker, go to step 4.
I have yellow mustard seeds and ground cumin – would this affect the recipe negatively if I were to use what I have?
Linda, you can use the yellow mustard seeds, skip the cumin seeds, and add about 3/4 teaspoon of ground cumin when you add the curry powder.
Thank you, Susan!
My brother and I started E2L 10 days ago with great success! So many issues are disappearing for both of us! Your recipes have been wonderful and have really helped make this a more flavorful transition.
I love your site! It’s because of your site that my brother and I purchased the E2L book and started taking control of our health (and weight)!
Linda
Susan,
I made this tonight and it was delicious!
Linda
The Yellow Split-Pea Soup with Sweet Potatoes and Kale recipe looks absolutely delicious! I’m going to cook it this weekend! Thank you so much for posting it:)
Just made this soup in my pressure cooker. 8 mins and letting pressure come down naturally was WAY to long for those yellow lentils! Though the dish does taste yummy the texture is like eating mashed potatoes. Next time I’ll cut the time in half and probably cool with water. I think I’d rather have to cook it a bit longer than have soup mush!
To each his (or her) own! I’ve never had split pea soup that wasn’t mushy, and I wouldn’t want to. But it sounds like you have a good plan for getting it like you like it.
I made this soup today. It was so yummy I had to stop myself from a third bowl! Thank you for the recipe!
Absolutely delicious. Another new fav. Also, love the sweet potato cauliflower soup!
Your split pea soups are simply phenomenal–especially this one. I don’t know what I would do without your wonderful healthy recipes!
is the yellow split pea soup with sweet potatoe and kale South Beach friendly?
This has become my go-to soup recipe! I adore it. So nourishing and satisfying.
))
Instead of canola oil/spray I use a little coconut oil. Realy complements the curry flavour and spices. Thanks for great recipe
{ 6 trackbacks }