all about peas

my friend glenn and i have these weekly dinners together - we are both far from home and like to share food with other people. last night was a combined effort: glenn made a great salad and my contribution consisted of soup - a fresh cookbook-inspired split pea. i'm sure it would have been absolutely delicious as it was, but i couldn't resist some modifications (a little coconut milk and some fresh green peas for brilliant colour and texture). and as soups usually are, it was even better tonight!

1 cooking onion

1-2 inches grated ginger

4-6 cloves of garlic

curry powder, cumin and chili powder (to taste)

10 cups of water (w/2 cubes of herb bullion) or vegetable stock

1 sweet potato (diced)

1 cup of yellow split peas

2-3 T thick coconut milk

1/2 cup cilantro or parsley

1/2 cup green peas (fresh or frozen)

sunflower sprouts (optional)

saute the onion, ginger and garlic in 1T of cooking oil until onions transparent; add the spices; add the potato, split peas, stock/water - bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 1 hr (you may have to add some more water as the split peas thicken); add the coconut milk, green peas and half of the parsley/cilantro

let sit for about 10 minutes; garnish with 1t of coconut milk (it needs to be the thick kind), cilantro and some sunflower sprouts. enjoy!