Curried Split Pea Soup

Curried Split Pea Soup

Ingredients:
1-2 T olive oil
1" ginger root, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped 
1 medium onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
2 celery ribs, diced

1 cup split peas (rinsed)
1 chipotle pepper
3 cups water (or vegetable stock)
1 cup spinach leaves

   Spices (heaping):
      1/2 tsp curry powder (I used the East Indian bottle spice mix from the book 660 Curries, below.)
      1 1/2 tsp cumin seeds (toasted and ground)
      1/2 tsp coriander seeds (toasted and ground)
      1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1-2 cups water (or vegetable stock)
Garnish with parsley or cilantro (optional)

For rice:
1 cup brown rice (rinsed)
1 3/4 cup water

In saucepan, saute onion, carrot, celery, garlic and ginger in olive oil 3-5 minutes. Add split peas, chipotle pepper and 3 cups water (or stock). Bring to boil, then lower heat to simmer covered for about 90 minutes.
If you want to serve this with rice, start it after the split peas have cooked for 45 minutes. Rinse 1 cup brown rice and put in saucepan with 1 3/4 cup water. Bring this to a boil and then lower heat to a simmer, cover and cook for about 45 minutes. (If you use white rice, it takes about 20 minutes to cook.)

When the split peas are soft, add salt, spices, and 1-2 cups water, depending upon how thick you like your soup. Bring back to a simmer, then remove from heat. Remove chipotle pepper.

Using a submersion blender (see picture below - I like this one, because it's versatile with the attachments), blend the soup until it has a nice consistency. Stir in the spinach leaves, cover and let the heat wilt the spinach. Salt to taste.

Serve over rice. Garnish with parsley or cilantro.
Serves four.