Turkish Pea Soup

Total Time: 1 hr 10 mins Preparation Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• Servings: 3
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 4 -6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 1 teaspoon chili flakes (preferably the black urfa variety)
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 2 stalks celery, finely chopped
• 1 cup finely chopped carrot
• 4 tablespoons tomato sauce
• 3 stalks fresh thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cup yellow split peas
• 6 -7 cups water
• salt
• pepper

Recipe

• 1 heat the oil in a large saucepan, then put in the bits of bacon and the pepper.
• 2 sauté for just a few seconds, then add the onion, celery and carrots.
• 3 cook until the onion goes clear, then add the tomato sauce and stir constantly for 1-2 minutes until the tomato sugars start to caramelise.
• 4 add the thyme, bay leaf and peas, plus salt and pepper to taste.
• 5 add 2-3 cups of water to cover the mixture.
• 6 stir, cover the pot and let it simmer over a low heat for about 20 minutes.
• 7 add another cup of water and let simmer, covered, for another 20 minutes.
• 8 keep checking on the pot and adding water a cup at a time until the peas are cooked and the soup is as thin or as thick as you like it.
• 9 this takes about an hour, for me.
• 10 use a hand blender to blitz the soup slightly, but don't purée it.
• 11 you still want some of the texture of the bacon and carrots.
• 12 remove the bay leaf and, if possible, let the soup sit for a few hours before serving to help the flavours develop.
• 13 you may need to add some more water, salt and pepper when you re-heat it.
• 14 if you like, you can crumble any extra bacon over the soup before serving, as well as a fresh grinding of pepper.