Vegan Split Pea Soup

En español

This recipe was inspired by Leftover Queen's Easy PEAsy Vegan Split Pea Soup.  I've tweaked it a bit and added a pressure cooker variation.  The pressure cooker speeds up cooking (reducing your gas use) and eliminates the need to dirty your blender because the pressure pulverizes the split peas.

Every vegetarian should own a pressure cooker, and I can't stress that enough.   The pressure cooker in this recipe reduces cooking time from 40 minutes to 10.  Need I say more?

This split pea soup has a secret ingredient: a single chipotle pepper.  A chipotle is a smoked jalepeño.  It gives the soup a smokey flavor that is reminiscent of the flavor ham would give it.  Don't worry if you don't like spicy food; it hardly gives the soup any spice.

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 TBS olive oil

• 1/2 large white or yellow onion, diced
• 
2 large carrots, diced

• 5 cloves of garlic, minced
• 
2 bay leaves

• salt and pepper to taste
• 
2 cups dried split peas
• 
5 cups water
• 
1 canned chipotle pepper

PREPARATION:

Conventional Stovetop Method:

1. Heat oil in a large pot. 
2. Add the onion, carrot, garlic and bay leaves. Sautee together until onions and carrots are soft. 
3. Add chipotle pepper, peas, and water to the pot. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and let simmer, stirring often, until the peas are soft (about 40 minutes). 
4. Place about half of the soup in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Add it back to the pot and then add salt and pepper to taste. 
5. Stir together and cook for about 10 minutes. 

Pressure Cooker Method:

1. Heat oil in the pressure cooker. 
2. Add the onion, carrot, garlic and bay leaves. Sautee together until onions and carrots are soft. 
3. Add chipotle pepper, peas, and water to the pot. 
4. Place lid on pressure cooker and cook under high pressure for 12 minutes.  Then turn off heat and let pressure come down naturally.
5. Remove lid and stir with a big spoon to mix split peas into a thick creamy soup.  
6. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve.