4Cups Chicken Broth(Vegetable Stock for Vegetarian soup)
2TablespoonsExtra Virgin Olive Oil
1 TeaspoonChili PowderMild California Red
Salt & PepperTo Taste
Instructions
Measure 2 Cups of dried split peas into a colander. Rinse with cool water and remove any debris.
Clean and dice carrots, celery, and onion. Smash and peel garlic. (There is no need to fuss about the size of the diced vegetables since everything will be blended together at the end.)
Heat a large soup pot on medium heat. Add two tablespoons of olive, then add the diced carrots, onions, celery, garlic, salt, and pepper. Saute until the onions are translucent.
Next, pour cleaned split peas into the pot and add red chili powder.
Pour in four cups (1quart) chicken broth and two cups of water.
Bring the soup to a simmer and let cook on a low heat with the lid on for 40 minutes. After 40 minutes, the soup will go from liquid with definite separate parts to a thick, chunky stew like texture.
Once the peas are completely soft, blend until completely smooth.
Notes
You really do need to clean the dried peas very well. Split peas are field dried and may have some dirt and debris mixed into the bag. The bags are usually pretty clean, but I often find a very small pebble or some dry pea skins.
Make sure to cook with the lid on and keep the burner on low. If you cook with the lid off or on high heat, too much liquid will evaporate and you could burn the soup.
I recommend an immersion blender that purees everything directly in the pot. A regular stand blender will work perfectly fine. Please be careful when blending hot soup. Sometimes trapped steam in the blender can cause little explosions of hot soup. Vent the lid to let steam escape before fully removing the lid.
You can take add diced ham or cooked bacon to add a little extra flavor.
You can easily have vegetarian split pea soup by substituting chicken broth for vegetable broth.