A spicy yellow split-pea soup

This very yummy soup builds on the techniques used in making the chickpea curry, especially in the cooking of the onions and the addition of lemon juice at the end. The flavours of this soup brings back memories of backpacking through Turkey and eating at roadside restaurants in Central Anatolia.

Ingredients

350g of yellow split-peas
1 large onion, finely chopped
4-6 tomatoes, skinned, deseeded and diced
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon each of cumin seeds, ground coriander, fenugreek seeds, turmeric
Half a teaspoon of black onion seeds
Quarter of teaspoon of cayenne pepper
2 Bay leaves
Three tablespoons of vegetable oil
Salt and pepper
Lemon to taste

What you do next is....
Heat the oil, add the garlic and onions and cook until the onions start to brown around the edges.
Add the cumin seeds, ground coriander and fenugreek seeds. Cook for 30 seconds then add the split peas. Stir a couple of times to get everything nice and mixed up then add a litre of water or chicken or vegetable stock.
Bring to a boil, turn down the heat and add the Bay Leaves, turmeric, cayenne pepper and onion seeds. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes before adding the diced tomato and salt and pepper. Cover and cook on a gentle heat until the split peas are cooked. The peas will absorb the stock, so be prepared to add more liquid to maintain a soupy consistency. A minute or two before you are ready to serve, add a generous squeeze of lemon.

Curry Night at Park View

Unfortunately there will not be a Curry Night at the Park View Cafe this month. We host our very popular Curry Nights at the Park View on the first Thursday of each month, but due to a number of unforeseen events, July's CN has had to be cancelled.
Apologies to all those who had planned on attending tonight's feast, but we will be back in August. So make a date in your diaries for Thursday, August 2.
As a rule, three different curries, homemade on the premises, are available, one of which is vegetarian. Your curry comes with a choice of rice, chips (and 'arf'n'arf) nan, poppadoms and pickles. A cracking meal!
But you don't have to wait until August to enjoy good food and hospitality at the Park View Cafe. We are open six days a week and serve a variety of main meals, snacks, cakes, tea and coffee. And our full breakfast is awesome. No, it really is, but come and find out for yourselves. We are on Cowbridge Road East, Canton, Cardiff, opposite Victoria Park.

Here's a simple but fantastic tasting Chickpea dish. What makes it a little bit more interesting is the addition of the raw onion mixture before serving.

Serves 6

Two x 400g tins of chickpeas
300g finely chopped onions
400ml water or vegetable or chicken stock
3 teaspoons of salt
1 fresh, hot green chilli (if you are a chilli fiend add more)
1 tablespoon of finely grated fresh ginger
4 tablespoons of lemon juice
6 tablespoons of vegetable oil
1 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
1 tablespoon each of ground coriander and ground cumin
Half a teaspoon of turmeric
2 teaspoons of gram masala
quarter of a teaspoon of cayenne pepper

First take two tablespoons of the finely chopped onions and place in a bowl along with the green chilli, grated ginger, lemon juice and 1 teaspoon of salt. Put to one side.
Fry the remaining onions in the vegetable oil until the onions start to brown. Add the chopped tomatoes. Cook this mixture for five to six minutes.
Add the coriander, cumin and turmeric. Cook for 30 seconds. Add the drained chickpeas along with 400ml of water or stock.Add the rest of the salt, garam masala and cayenne pepper.
Cover and cook on a low heat for 20min. Mix in the onion mixture just before serving.


Let us know what you think of this recipe.