Pea Soup

My mother-in-law (who is Dutch) doesn’t particularly do much home cooking, but one thing I look forward to during the winter months is going over for lunch because she will always have a big pot of some hearty soup on to warm you up! This pea soup recipe is one of hers that I asked if she would share with us.

Ingredients (serves 4-6)

• 500g dry split peas
• 2 liters of water
• 400g ‘Hollandse wokgroente’
• 2 vegetable stock cubes
• 320g Curry braadworst
• 1 tbsp oil

I used curry braadworst from Unox in my soup, but my mother-in-law said you can use any bradworst or rookworst, even bacon pieces or smoked chicken, or any similar vegetarian options. Similarly with the vegetables, my mother-In-law uses the ready chopped up packs, but you could do it yourself. ‘Hollandse wokgroente’ consists of carrots, celery, red and yellow peppers, broccoli, cauliflower and french beans. This recipe will serve 4 people as a main meal, or 6 for a light lunch.

Directions

In a large soup pan, add the peas and water. Bring it to a gentle boil, cover and leave for 50 minutes.

The peas and water will now have a nice mushy consistency. If you still have a lot of water on top, leave to boil gently with the lid off to remove some more of the liquid.

Once the peas are down to a good consistency add in the pack of vegetables and the stock cubes and let it continue to gently boil for 10-15 minutes, until the vegetables are cooked through.

While the vegetables cook, slice the braadworst into half cm thick slices (I like to do it on a slight diagonal). Heat some oil in a frying pan and fry the slices, turning them over after a few minutes so both sides have a nice colour.

To serve, mix ¾ of the braadworst into the soup, ladle into bowls and add the remaining bradworst on top. Serve with some rustic crusty bread and garlic butter.