Split Pea and Ham (or Bacon) Soup

Bethany is a split-pea and ham soup fiend of note

If there is one thing our girl-child loves, it is split pea and ham (or bacon) soup. As a result, we make it in great quantities and then freeze it in hungry child-sized portions to defrost quickly when hunger pangs strike.

As with all recipes, there are a few things to bear in mind.

1. Yellow vs Green split peas

In South Africa, you can find both green and yellow varieties for sale next to each other. In shops selling Indian food, you may find the yellow ones marked as dahl. The two colours represent different varieties of the field pea, Pisum sativum L and some prefer the milder and nuttier yellow to the sweeter and more pea-flavoured green. It's down to your preference in the end; my family always vote for the yellow, and in fact the Swedes traditionally only ever make soup with the yellow split peas.

2. Quantity of onions and garlic

Frankly, the secret to this dish lies in superbly caramelised onions, copious quantities of garlic. Since caramelising said onions takes a lot of time, we tend to make industrial quantities for freezing, as a way of maximising slow time. Believe me, whether you are frying one onion or twenty, to get the depth of flavour and intensity you are looking for, you have to stand the same time stirring the pan, especially as it begins to caramelise and hence sticks to the pan.

3. Blending

You really need to purchase a stick blender. Seriously. I don't know how anyone copes without one. Gone are the days of taking hot slop, little by little, whizzing it in a tall blender it will insist on, volcano-like, erupting out of time and again until it is sufficiently mushed up, and then having to repeat this ungracious and gloopy process time and again. No! all such labours are

4. Don't forget the thyme!

My mother always used copious amounts of thyme, preferably freshly picked from the garden. But dried thyme will do in a pinch.

Split Pea and Ham Recipe

As with all soups, you can have it thicker or runnier, The ratios I use are:

250gram bag of yellow split peas
2 large onions
5 large bulbs of garlic
1/2 a 125 grams of bacon
1 teaspoon Fresh thyme
1 teaspoons Chicken stock

But given the quantities we make, you are usually looking at:

2 kgs yellow peas
16 onions
2 bulbs of garlic
500 grams (or 4 125gram) packets of bacon or gammon
3 tablespoons chicken stock
3 tablespoons fresh thyme

Peel and cut onions:

When in doubt, add onions, the secret to delicious pea and ham soup

I don't tend to soak the peas overnight, they mush up easily enough with a bit of time and some heat, but I do wash them and throw out the first batch of dirty water - mostly because you will find a few sticks and stuff in amongst the peas.  However, as you bring them to the boil there will be foam, which I skim off the top. It's always quite a bit of foam - as you can see from the foam that is in this bowl below. I normally just chuck the foam down the sink.

Remove the foam from the split peas as it rises 

While the peas are going in one pot, I caramelise the onions in a large flat pan. Obviously, such separation is not required if you are making a small pot of soup; if that is the case you can simply caramelise the onions and then add water and the peas once they are sufficiently brown. But when you are looking at industrial quantities, then a flat-bottomed pan makes sense.

Caramelising the onions for the split pea and ham soup

I cannot state to my children often enough how important it is that your onions are a deep and rich brown colour. You can add water to the onions; we prefer cheap red wine or sherry to deglaze the pan and add a bit of extra flavour, but it's your choice entirely. I add the roughly chopped up garlic only once the onions are already translucent and warmly brown:

Adding garlic for the split pea and ham soup

When the peas are plumped up, I add the bacon bits (ham, especially gammon, will do equally well, particularly after Christmas) and then let it simmer. Add the caramelised onions and garlic. This is when you'd add the thyme too.

When the peas are easily mushed with a spoon, blend with a stick blender to the consistency you require. My kids love a thick paste with the bacon completely distributed throughout. However, it is perfectly acceptable to have it as a thicker, chunkier soup. Again, it's all about individual preference.

Split pea and bacon soup 

We always serve with fresh home-made garlic bread, made with plenty of fresh parsley. We tend to whizz up the parsley, garlic and slightly warmed up butter in a mini-blender before spreading onto the bread and popping it into a pre-warmed oven.

Garlic bread is good to serve with split pea and ham soup

Both the garlic bread and the soup can be made in advance, frozen, then taken out before the evening meal and either popped straight into the oven or heated in a microwave or even on the stove-top before serving. It certainly takes the edge off having to make a full meal in a hurry for hungry kids on a cold, dark winter's night. As a result, it's a family favourite and staple standby item in our freezer.