I’m home sick today, feeling pretty lousy.  I was craving soup, but all I had in my cupboard was creamy tomato and butternut squash soups.  Creamy soups are not at all what I want when I don’t feel good.  I had about a cup of dried split peas in the cupboard and a huge bag of carrots in the fridge, so I figured I’d make some split pea and carrot soup.  This is really tasty and simple — and it requires minimal effort, which is perfect when you’re pretty sure your sinuses are squeezing your head into oblivion.

The colors of the raw carrots and split peas are really pretty too.  Please make sure you pick through your dried split peas before you cook them for the soup– I almost always find a tiny stone or two in there.  Also, this soup is vegan as written, optionally vegetarian if you use butter, and also optionally fat-free if you sauté the onions in water.  Holy versatile!

Split Pea and Carrot Soup

• 1 Cup dried split peas, carefully checked for debris and rinsed
• 2 1/2 cups water
• 1 large carrot, finely diced*
• 1/2 large sweet onion, diced*
• 1/4 tsp salt
• dash pepper
• 1 tsp vegetable bullion (optional)
• 1/8 tsp Liquid Smoke (optional)
• 1 tsp earth balance (vegan margarine) or olive oil or butter or water

Melt the earth balance over medium heat in a large pot.  Add the onions, salt and pepper.  Cook until the onions are translucent.  Add the carrots, bullion, liquid smoke, and water.  Bring to a boil over high heat then knock the heat back to low/medium low to simmer for 30 minutes or until the split peas are tender.

At this point, you can blend the soup (or half of the soup) in a blender for a smooth soup, or leave it chunky.

Notes:

• No picture of the finished soup because let’s be honest- it’s not attractive.  Tastes great though!
• * Here is a good time to use one of those mini food choppers if you have one.  You want really small pieces of carrots and onion if you are going to leave the soup chunky.
• The liquid smoke is optional, but I think it gives the soup a nice flavor.  I add it here because most traditional split pea soups have ham hocks or bacon in them and the liquid smoke mimics that flavor.  You could also saute some crumbled vegetarian bacon or ham in with the onions to get the same effect.
• You can make this soup fat-free by omitting the earth balance or oil and just using a bit of water in the bottom of the pot to saute the onions.  I like the flavor of the earth balance here though.