A hearty creamy soup of yellow split peas, which are cooked till falling apart. It is a somewhat modernised version of the Hungarian “Sárgaborsó Főzelék” where instead of using flour to thicken the dish I pureed it in a food processor which I found makes the flavour more intense. The garlic and black pepper are key ingredients here and the smokey taste of meaty chorizo is a tasty compliment to the earthy split peas.

Ingredients for 4 people:

• 500 gram yellow split peas
• 200 gram chorizo sausage sliced
• 1 medium onion, grated or finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 3 tablespoon of sunflower oil
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tablespoon of soured cream – optional
• freshly ground black pepper

How to make

1. Soaked the yellow split peas overnight
2. Saute the finely chopped onions on a splash of oil – about 3 tablespoons
3. Add the crushed garlic, stir it around a bit.
4. Add the soaked peas, bay leaf, salt and cover with water, bring to to boil and simmer for about 2 hours. It will be a bit frothy while cooking and towards the end the yellow peas will start to disintegrate, which is what we need. Keep an eye on it occasional stirring and topping up with water if running dry.
5. Start sweating the sliced chorizo on a little oil on a low heat we would want to retain as much of the smokey the melted juices as possible.
6. Once it is cooked, set a few spoonful of the peas aside and whizz the rest of the cooked peas in a food processor till smooth. Add the cream now if using.
7. Serve with a few saved whole peas on top and a smokey meat topping – here sauteed chorizo.