Pea soup | Jamie Oliver recipes (2024)

FAQs

What thickens pea soup? ›

How to Thicken Split Pea Soup. The potato should make your split pea soup perfectly thick and creamy. However, if the soup is still too thin for your liking, you can thicken it up with full-fat cream (though it may alter the flavor a bit) or a cornstarch slurry.

One common reason is using too much water or broth while cooking. Additionally, if the split peas are not cooked long enough, they may not release enough starch to thicken the soup.

Split pea soup naturally thickens as the peas break down during cooking and also as it sits, especially if refrigerated. If it's too thick for your liking, you can easily thin it by adding a bit of chicken or vegetable broth, or even water, until you reach your desired consistency.

Pea Variety: The main difference lies in the type of peas used. Split pea soup is typically made from dried split peas, while green pea soup is made from fresh or frozen green peas. Texture: Split pea soup has a thicker and heartier texture compared to green pea soup.

The common denominator will probably be meat (ham bones are common), more salt, and pepper to taste. If you want to take a shortcut, you could use bouillon cubes or paste to provide both meaty flavor and salt, though pork is a lot harder to find than chicken or beef. Salt and pepper you can just stir in.

Note: Split peas should soften just fine in this amount of cooking time. They do not need presoaking. If your split peas are hard after this length of cooking time, there is something wrong with the peas or with your water. If the peas are very old and dried out, they won't soften.

These are probably just left over embryos of the peas, or the yolk, if you will. Relax - I suspect it's just a part of the pea called the Hypocotyl. It's essentially the part that would sprout if was planted instead of being cooked.

The starches and the gelatin will form a mesh when cooling, so the consistency of the pea-soup will always be thick when cold. On heating, do what Mien advised: add some water or broth to the soup to the consistency that you want.

Add Something Creamy

Possibilities include cream, coconut milk, yogurt, or even pureed avocado. If you choose coconut milk, be aware that it will impart a sweet, coconut flavor, which might not be right for every soup. Yogurt will add tanginess.

From a Western nutrition perspective, legumes, lentils, and split peas can cause bloating because of the oligosaccharides present. Oligosaccharides are small sugars that aren't actually digested by us. Rather, oligosaccharides are digested by the bacteria present in the gut!

Will pea soup thicken as it cools? ›

The peas will absorb liquid as it cools down, resulting in a thicker soup the next day. If you are intent on eating it right away, then the other suggestion already made here, of blending half of it, and then mixing it back in, should help.

This soup-thickening hack couldn't be easier. Unlike using flour, which requires either making a little roux before you start cooking or a beurre manié afterwards, or using a cornstarch slurry that can create a gloppy texture, the instant mashed potato flakes can simply be sprinkled into the finished dish.

pea soup noun [U] (FOG)

US old-fashioned informal. (UK pea-souper) a very thick fog. SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases.

Pea soup or split pea soup is soup made typically from dried peas, such as the split pea.

The starches and the gelatin will form a mesh when cooling, so the consistency of the pea-soup will always be thick when cold. On heating, do what Mien advised: add some water or broth to the soup to the consistency that you want.

Mix a small amount of cornstarch or flour with cold water to create a slurry. Slowly stir the slurry into the hot soup and allow it to simmer for a few minutes until it thickens. This method is useful for adjusting thickness without altering the flavor significantly.

Add Flour Or Cornstarch

You can thicken soup by adding flour, cornstarch, or another starchy substitute. For the best results, never add flour or cornstarch directly to your soup. If you do, it will clump up on top. Instead, ladle a small amount of broth into a separate bowl and let it cool.

Well the real answer is to keep peas only covered a little by water or broth while cooking, thereby eliminating excess water. Boil some more peas with less water, strain and add them when soft. Using potato would work, but would taste more like potato soup.