East Meets West: Warming Split Pea Soup

I have begun to make this soup a million different ways and to offer it to those suffering this year's cough/flu that won't quit. If the cold has knocked out your taste buds, the creeping spiciness breaks through the nasal barrier and the turmeric is good for your lungs too!

The more you eat, the warmer you get!

Step One: Cook peas in water, until they are soft. Hurry if you like, or cook them more slowly for one hour and a half. Just make sure they always have at least a half inch of liquid.

(This is the crazy part: I like to get a sautéed onion and at least one big potato in there right away. I also add any of the following based on my mood: baby carrots, celery, sweet potatoes, 2 bay leaves, a 6-inch stick of rosemary from the garden, and any French/Italian herbs that I feel like at that moment.)

Meanwhile you can start the “garam masala” . . .and add it at least one-half hour before you finish cooking the peas.

Step Two: Sauté at least a ¼ teaspoon of each of the following in olive oil (or butter/ghee) until they pop. (More if you are making more than 2 cups of peas.)

Cracked Black pepper
Cumin seeds
Bay leaves
Coriander seeds
Fenugreek, omit if you cannot get it

Step Three: Add these and continue to sauté until onions are translucent.

Ginger
1 big white Onion (at least)
Garlic (omit if you hate garlic)

Step Four: Sprinkle these spices on the onion mixture; cook for another few minutes; add to the peas. If you have a garam masala Indian spice mixture, this is when you can use it.

Ground Cloves
Ground Cinnamon
Brown cardamom
Fenugreek
Turmeric

Step Five: Take two cups of the fully or almost fully cooked peas and their juice and put them in a blender with vinegar and a teaspoon of salt. Blend and add back to the soup. How does it look? You decide how much to blend. Cook it a bit more. Taste it. Adjust.

If you cook this all day, you have time to add barley too!

Serve with corn bread (see Tamale Surprise) or hearty wheat/rye bread. Feel better!

Tamale Surprise: What warms the house warms the heart !

Despite my attempts to model good, secular behavior, I see that the combination of the end of the year and the snap of wintery cold weather sets off a celebratory chain of events that cannot be avoided (i.e., time indoors leads to elaborating and sharing those spaces; happy holidays in whatever sense seems relevant to you!)

The beauty of this season for me is the consistent positive feedback regarding the cooking that I love to do. I made this for the end of the year yoga party and by request, here is the first transcribed version of one of my recipes.

Tamale Filling

Mix all of the following and cook it long enough for the everything to absorb some of the sauce. Adjust the liquid.

1 or more white onions (even better if you sauté them)
1 lb. tofu
16 oz or more of Enchilada sauce -- red chile & tomato sauce (el Pato)
Black olives
Corn
Jalapenos & Garlic if you like
(Sometimes I also add cooked polenta.)

Corn Bread Topping

Step One: Combine the following dry ingredients in a large bowl and make a well in the center of the mixture.

1 1/2 cups of cornmeal
1 cup flour, unbleached flour/whole wheat pastry flour
1 ½ teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of salt
1/4 cup of sucanat or natural organic sugar. (If using honey, add to liquids and reduce other liquids.)

Step Two: Mix the liquids and add to dry stuff. Stir just until everything is mixed.

1 1/2 cups of soy/rice/dairy milk
3/4 cup of butter or margarine, melted
2 large eggs, lightly beaten

Step three: Add any of the following to the bread mix. As you fancy!

Chopped Onions
Chopped Olives
Chopped Red & Yellow pepper
½ cup Corn (fresh or frozen)
Jalapeños

Put all of filling in a large, deep casserole dish or cake size baking pan and cover with bread mix.

Bake at 375ºF anywhere from one hour to one hour and 45 minutes, depending on how much you have decide to make. Bread should be golden and fully cooked according to the toothpick test.

Given that nothing I make ever turns out the same twice, and that I am personally incapable of following recipes--except by telephone dispatch via my mother—proceed at your own risk! (Remember Lao Tzu says easy is right!)

Good Luck! I hope your new year is full of tamale surprises!