April 2 - Yellow Split Pea with Kale

When my kids ordered Lentil with Chili soup, I realized that it's time to serve lentil dish at home.

I grew up being served with mung bean soup (ginisang munggo) together with grilled chicken and white rice. Mung bean soup is normally prepared with dark green vegetables, like bitter melon leaves (ampalaya) or moringa leaves (malunggay).

The North American version of this dish is the split pea soup. Yellow split pea with kale is thicker than soup, though. Like the Philippine version of mung bean soup, it is best serve on top of white rice.

Yellow Split Pea with Kale

Ingredients

11 oz yellow split peas (soak in 5 cups of water for about 5 hours)

3 cups of chicken stock

5 cloves of garlic, minced

1 large onion, minced

2 large tomatoes, peeled and chopped

3 cups of kale leaves, chopped

optional seasoning:

1 tsp caraway seeds

1 tsp coriander seeds

1.2 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

Cooking Time (1.5 hours)

In a large pot, cook the yellow split pea together with the 5 cups of water that you used for soaking.

Add the 3 cups of chicken stock and let it boil until the pea is soft and mushy, about 45 minutes.

Add the garlic, onion, tomatoes and kale.

Continue to cook in low heat.

To add more flavor, add the optional seasonings of caraway, coriander, mustard and cumin seeds.