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Split Pea Soup

A slow-simmered split pea soup built on a smoky vegetable broth, with browned smoked tofu standing in for the ham and the peas cooked down soft. Carrot, celery and onion go in near the end. Thick, plain and spoon-coating.

soup · American · vegan

Ingredients

  • 3 piece carrot
  • 1 piece onion
  • 3 stalk celery
  • 8–10 cup smoky broth base (vegetable stock + smoked paprika + soy sauce + bay leaves), 8-10 cups vegetable stock or water with 2 tsp smoked paprika, 2 tbsp soy sauce, 1/2 tsp liquid smoke, 2 bay leaves, and 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 cup smoked tofu, diced 1/2-inch, pan-browned
  • 1 package split peas

Method

  1. Bring 8-10 cups vegetable stock or water to a simmer with the smoked paprika, soy sauce, bay leaves and a tablespoon of olive oil. Simmer 10 minutes to let the smoke settle in — no need for the long bone simmer.
  2. Add split peas and cook till mush, about 60-90 minutes, stirring now and then and topping up with water if it gets too thick. Fish out the bay leaves.
  3. Add carrot, celery, onion 1 hr before serve. Meanwhile brown the diced smoked tofu in a little oil until the edges are firm, and stir it in for the last 20 minutes. Taste and add salt or more soy sauce at the end — without the smoky broth base the soup needs seasoning you didn't used to have to think about.

Notes

Smoke and salt now come from smoked paprika and soy sauce instead of the bone, and browned smoked tofu stands in for the diced ham — the broth stage is much shorter, so start checking seasoning at the end rather than trusting the pork to have salted it for you.