Easy Peasy Pea Soup

Best done in a slow cooker but can be done in a large pot on the stove if you don’t mind frequent stirring and adjusting of temperature.

3 cups split yellow peas

boiling water to cover

8 cups vegetable or chicken stock

2 cups frozen vegetables for spaghetti sauce

ham bone (optional)

2 cups diced cooked ham (optional)

The night before, place peas in a 6-litre crock pot. Cover with boiling water, put the lid on the pot, and leave to soak. In the morning, drain and rinse peas and return to pot. Add remaining ingredients and cook on high for 5 hours, stirring once or twice. Reduce to low and cook another 2 hours. Remove ham bone before serving.

This is actually better reheated the following day.

If you’re opting to make a vegetarian version, just leave out the ham and add a tablespoon of olive or other vegetable oil with the rest of the ingredients.

Garam Masala Cake

I’d had to buy a bottle of garam masala back when I was trying the spicy lentil dahl recipe. As soon as I took the lid off and smelled it, I said to myself, “I need to bake with this.” So I experimented and here’s the result, a light, moist cake with an intriguing flavour. You can serve it plain, but it’s better with a vanilla frosting. 

7 ounces margarine

1 ¼ cups brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 ¼ cups flour

3 ½ teaspoons baking powder

1 ½ teaspoons garam masala

2 tablespoons instant espresso

1 cup milk

 

Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease (if using non-stick) a 9 x 13 cake pan. Cream margarine and sugar, then add eggs and vanilla. Combine flour with baking powder, garam masala, and coffee powder. Add into creamed mixture alternately with milk. Spoon into pan and bake for 25 minutes.

I think raisins and chopped walnuts would go well in this, but I haven’t actually tried it since I’m the only one in the house that would eat it. Hmm.