Curried Split Pea Soup + Foodie Fights results

First, the results from Foodie Fights Battle Tamarind and Brown Sugar: I won! That's right! My Frozen Tamarind-Apricot Custard with Brown-Sugar Pistachio Toffee won! I'm super excited *:)* As a Foodie Fights winner, my next job is to be one of the judges for the next battle, which happens to be Tomatoes and Corn (two of my favorites, by the way). I've been a judge once before, after winning Battle Pomegranate and Semolina Flour last year, and I have to tell you judging the entries is so much harder and more stressful than being a competitor. It's part of the prize, though, so I say, "Bring on the food!"

Now to the soup. I've always been deathly afraid of split pea soup. It's green, looks goopy, and is oftentimes made with ham--and I do not like ham (no, Sam). So I've avoided split pea soup at all costs.

Things change--people change--and I recently found myself wondering about split pea soup. I couldn't do the ham, that I knew, so was there another way to make it? I found my answer on the Food Network website in the form of Alton Brown's Curried Split Pea Soup. I love curry and there was no ham. Winner! My first pot was good, better than I'd expected, to be honest. Even my husband, who likes just about everything, was a little worried. It is green, after all--though I made sure it was not goopy. He was as pleasantly surprised as I was.

This recipe is loosely based on Alton's recipe. I changed it some because his recipe called for 12 oz of dried split peas and the bags I buy at the store are 16 oz. Who wants to have 4 oz of dried peas hanging around? I also replaced the butter in the original recipe with olive oil, and increased the curry by a lot. I wanted lots of curry flavor, and my first pot was a little weak. If you're not so much into strong curry, use the lower of the two amounts specified in the recipe.

Curried Split Pea Soup
Printable Recipe

1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons curry powder
1 16-oz bag green split peas, rinsed and picked over
7 cups chicken broth
sour cream or plain yogurt for serving, if desired

1. Heat a medium pot over medium heat until hot. Add the olive oil and heat for 10 seconds. Add the onion and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 10 seconds. Add the curry powder and cook, stirring often, for 2 minutes.

2. Add the rinsed split peas and chicken broth to the pot. Turn up the heat to bring it to a boil, cover and reduce the heat low or medium low to maintain a simmer. Cook for 45-50 minutes, or until the peas are very soft and falling apart. Remove from the heat.

3. Being very careful of splatters (please!), use a stick blender to puree the soup. This only takes about 30 seconds.

4. To serve, garnish with sour cream or plain yogurt. (I thinned my yogurt with a little milk to make it thin enough so it didn't sink and I could do the swirly thing on the top).

Makes about 2 quarts soup.