Smoky Split Pea Soup
Split peas, smoked paprika, and dried aromatics. Long simmer, no meat, no cooler.
- calories
- 480
- weight
- 4.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 107
- protein
- 22 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 50 min
- total time
- 55 min
- water
- 900 ml boiled
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Liquid fuel
- Canister stove
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Winter / snow
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Green split peas | 1 cup | no soak needed, but they will not hurry |
|---|---|---|
| Olive oil | 2 tbsp | dropper bottle |
| Dried leek flakes | 3 tbsp | stand-in for a generous pile of fresh leeks |
| Dried celery flakes | 1 tbsp | |
| Garlic granules | 1 tsp | |
| Smoked paprika | 1 heaped tsp | Spanish pimentón; this is the whole point |
| Dried thyme | 1 tsp | |
| Bay leaf | 1 | |
| Vegetable bouillon | 1 tsp | |
| Ground black pepper | 1/2 tsp | |
| Salt | to taste, at the end | |
| Citric acid or lemon powder | 1/4 tsp | or a squeeze from a lemon juice packet |
Method
- Warm the oil in the pot and stir the leek and celery flakes in it for about a minute. They will darken and smell like onions. Do not walk away.
- Add the garlic, paprika, thyme, pepper, and bay leaf. Ten seconds in the oil, no longer, or the paprika turns bitter.
- Pour in 900 ml of water, add the split peas and bouillon, and bring it to a boil.
- Drop to the lowest simmer the stove will hold and cover. Forty to fifty minutes. Stir every ten so the bottom does not catch.
- The peas are done when they fall apart against the side of the pot. Beat them with the spoon for a minute to break the rest down.
- Fish out the bay leaf. Salt now, not earlier, then stir in the lemon powder and taste again.
Split peas are one of the few dried legumes that cook from hard to soup without soaking, which is why this works in camp at all. The cost is fuel. Budget close to an hour of low flame, and run it on liquid fuel or a big canister rather than a small one, or plan on eating late.
The smoked paprika is doing the job the ham hock used to. Without it this is just green and starchy. Fresh leeks and celery are not carryable, so both go in as flakes and get bloomed in oil first, which gets most of the way there. Salt at the end because bouillon is already salty, and the acid at the very end because a pot of peas with nothing sharp in it tastes flat no matter how long it simmered.
Packing
Peas in one bag, everything dry except salt premixed in a second small bag. Oil rides in a leak-proof bottle inside a zip bag. Bay leaf goes in with the spice mix and gets pulled out at camp.
Variations
- Stir in half a cup of instant potato flakes at the end if you want it thicker or the peas stall out.
- A foil packet of ham or a crumbled bouillon cube of beef flavor puts it back where the original came from.
https://daraeats.com/smokey-herbed-split-pea-soup