Spicy split peas

Posted by kathryn in Gluten-free, Vegan, Legumes and Main courses

I’ve been cooking a lot with split peas over the last two weeks. While I favour split mung beans when making dal, Richard always uses split yellow peas. Some time ago he went through a dal-making craze and and we ended up with a cupboard full of the little critters.

Trouble is, I’m not a huge fan, so two large jars of yellow split peas have been stuck at the back of the cupboard for quite some time now. I can’t stand wasting food, so I’ve been determined to find some ways of cooking yellow split peas that I do like.

Like other legumes , split peas are high in fibre, low in fat, low GI and contain protein. They’re also high in potassium and contain a bit of iron, magnesium and folate . So nutritionally they’re very good for you. Split peas also count towards your daily vegetable intake and diets that include legumes are shown to reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease and improve your long-term health . Plus they’re cheap and unlike many other legumes, don’t need to be soaked before cooking.

This dish is base on a recipe called Moroccan Split Peas from Madhur Jaffrey’s World Vegetarian . I’ve lowered the fat content, slightly changed the spices and added cabbage. Since reading Jocelyn’s posts about cabbage dal, I often add cabbage to my split pea and dal-like creations – it works so beautifully and makes the dish into more of a complete meal.

It’s a flexible recipe – if you don’t like cabbage, don’t add it, or use silverbeet instead. You can increase or decrease the cayenne pepper depending on your heat tolerance, you could also add more water and have it as a soup. Serve it on rice with a spoonful of natural yoghurt, or with flatbreads, salad and lemon wedges.

While it takes 45 minutes to cook, there’s virtually no prep. Peel a few garlic cloves, chop up some cabbage and then throw it all in a pot. Apart from the occasional stir, you can then leave it to cook away by itself. I made this on the weekend, while tidying the house and reading the paper.

Spicy Split Peas

This makes enough to serve 4, or you could even stretch it to 6 with a few side dishes (eg rice and a salad). It’s worthwhile making a bit extra, as it freezes well.

200g (1 cup) of yellow split peas

3 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

1/4 head of cabbage, finely shredded

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Wash the split peas in a couple of changes of water (the water will go quite murky). Drain and then put in a large-ish pan, with the garlic, turmeric, cabbage and 1 litre of water. Gently bring to the boil, turn the heat down low, partly cover and leave to cook for about 40 minutes. When it first starts to simmer, it will foam and bubble on the surface – don’t worry about this, as it dissipates during the cooking. You’ll need to stir the split peas occasionally, to prevent them sticking.
Stir the peas to break down slightly – they should be a thick, slightly lumpy puree by this point. Add the spices, stir through and season with salt and pepper. Leave on a low heat for about 5 minutes, to let the spices amalgamate and then serve.

Jaffrey, Madhur, World Vegetarian , Ebury Press, London, 1998.

Nutritional information per serving (based on 4 servings):*

Total kilojoules: 710kJ; Protein : 13.5g; Total Fat : 1.1g; Saturated fat : 0.08g; Carbohydrate : 27g; Fibre : 9.5g; Sodium : 22mg (without adding any salt); Number of vegetable serves towards your daily total _ : 3 serves; _Additional nutrients : potassium, niacin, folate , iron, antioxidants.

Technorati tags: vegan , legume , split peas , cabbage , paprika , cayenne , cumin .