Sopa de Arveja
Dried green peas simmered with a sofrito of celery, carrot, bell pepper and garlic, with potato and bay leaf, and cumin and thyme through it. An hour and ten, four bowls.
Servings: 4
Calories: 137kcal
Ingredients
- 250 g dried green peas arveja seca; see the notes if you are using fresh or frozen
- 1 small stalk of celery
- 1 carrot
- Oil
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- Cilantro to finish
- 1 large potato
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 garlic cloves
- ½ red bell pepper
- ½ onion
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Water enough to cover the peas by two fingers, topped up as it cooks
Instructions
- Rinse the peas thoroughly and put them on to boil in water that covers them by two fingers.
- Finely chop the bell pepper, the celery and the garlic. Peel the carrot and dice it small.
- In a skillet, heat some oil and soften the chopped vegetables.
- Add the thyme, the cumin and a pinch of salt to the skillet and cook for another minute. Take it off the heat.
- Peel the potato and cut it into small pieces.
- Tip the sofrito into the pot with the peas, along with the potato and the bay leaf. Add more water if it needs it and simmer for about 40 minutes, until everything is soft. Stir now and then.
- Once it is all soft, taste it, season with salt and pepper, stir in the finely chopped cilantro and serve straight away.
Notes
- Dried peas are what this recipe is built around, and they take the full hour. Soaking them overnight cuts that down considerably and gives a more even result.
- Fresh or frozen peas are a different thing entirely. They cook in five to eight minutes, so they go in near the end rather than at the start; forty minutes turns them to mush and the soup grey.
- Water is the one quantity the recipe never gives, because it depends on the pot. Cover the peas by two fingers to start and top it up as they drink it. Adding it hot keeps the pot at temperature.
- The cilantro goes in at the very end. Boiled it contributes nothing.
Nutrition
Calories: 137kcal | Carbohydrates: 30g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 1mg | Sodium: 734mg | Potassium: 736mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 5955IU | Vitamin C: 46mg | Calcium: 41mg | Iron: 2mg