I first ate pigeon peas at a vegetarian friend's house. She had made rice with pigeon peas. It was delicious. She is also a dietitian and told me that they were very nutritious and high in protein. So next time when I went shopping I bought a bag of these legumes. They're brownish and mottled rounds and are very tiny. Once I cooked them in meat stew. It was good but it gave us indigestion afterwords. This time I wanted to try to make soup with them without the discomfort, so I used a little cook's trick and boiled them with one tablespoon of baking soda for ten minutes prior to cooking. After they cooled of I painstakingly separated the skins from seeds (ugh..!) and revealed the beautiful yellow peas underneath. Anyhow, my efforts paid off and my soup was delicious. Instead of split pea soup it was pigeon pea soup in pork stock. I had prepared the stock from the pork bone that I've saved from our pork dinner on Sunday.
1 Cup Pigeon peas (see above preparation)
2 Tbsp of olive oil
1 Large onion roughly chopped
1 Large carrot diced
1 Large celery stalk chopped
1 Clove garlic
1 Tsp sage powder
1 Tsp curry powder
5-6 Cups of stock/broth (mine was pork)
1 Cup of shredded pork from the bone
* salt & pepper to taste
Saute onion with oil in a large pot and stir in all the other ingredients and boil until vegetables softened. Once cool put through the blender until smooth. Return soup to pot and cook for five minutes more. Plate and serve with croutans on top. (I use one day old Italian bread cut into cubes and then fry in melted butter). It is smooth, silky and a great belly warmer and no discomfort. Enjoy.
9 comments:
Being a soup lover, yours sounds and looks very delicious to me - but I won't try to make it myself, since I can't be bothered to go through the whole process of preparing the peas.
By the way, this is the first time I hear about pigeon peas - when I saw the title of your blog entry, I thought for a moment you were going to tell us about pea soup with pigeon meat in it...
Leguminose plants such as peas and lentils and beans are very important and should play a much bigger role in our nutrition world-wide; the production of meat takes up way too much in terms of resources, and is not enough to feed the ever-growing masses on our planet. Scientists here in Germany warn that the growing of leguminose plants has been dangerously neglected, less than 1% of all agricultural land is used for it here, and they are hoping to bring about a change by introducing new, robust species.
Pigeon peas, that is a new one on me. I guess you could make this with any sort of dried pea though. It looks delicious. Diane
Sopa deliciosa!Diferente, gostei muito!
Bom final de semana.
Bjs
Ivani
I've never heard of Pigeons Peas. They are intriguing!
Very interesting. I have never eaten pigeon peas.
Hello Librarian, you just stepped on an important issue. Many people don't know or care to include legumes in their diets. I don't think I'll use the same method to make this soup with these little gems. Pea soup with with pigeon meat in it. I don't think so, I'll pass...
Hi Diane, yes they taste great with rice also and they are loaded with protein (no need for meat)
Thank You Ivani, have a great day as always
Hi Mumsfilibaba, until I had it at my friends house I didn't either but they are really tasty and nutritional
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