Split Peas Cook-up revisited – Saturday eating
Hi Everyone, Have you ever made split peas cook-up only to have the peas melt completely, turning everything into a big pot of mush? Pasty? Difficult to ‘turn’ the ingredients, judge the doneness, or the amount of liquid needed to cook the rice? If your answer to any of these questions is yes, know that you are not alone. Many of us have been there! If you’ve given up on making split peas cook-up because of these challenges, read on, I believe you might want to give it another try.
Over the years, fed up with the inconsistency with the quality of split peas – sometimes it cooks up quickly and at other times, it takes forever – I had switched to using red lentils whenever I wanted to make split peas cook-up. I’ve had great success with the red lentils – they do not need to be rehydrated prior to cooking, they are rinsed and added directly to the pot at the same time with the rice to cook. Each time the cook-up cooks up perfectly. Every. Single. Time. However, not being one to easily give up, I decided that I must find a way to master the making of split peas cook-up
In the past, one of my methods had been to add the rehydrated peas to the pressure cooker after the meat had been cooking for a certain time so that it would soften to the extent that when the rice was added, everything would finish cooking at the same time. On more than one occasion, I was met with frustration – the meat would finish cooking but the darn split peas would still be hard! I would have to fish out the meat so that it didn’t overcook so much that it shredded. More hot liquid would be added to the pot to cook, pressuring the peas until it was suitably cooked. This had happened one too many times. Something had to give.
It would be months before I decided to try making split peas cook-up with actual split peas. This time around I decided to cook the peas separately before adding them to the pot with the meat, rice, coconut milk and herbs. This approach meant that I would not have to worry when the peas would finish cooking or compromising the other ingredients. Guess what? It worked, perfectly! The split peas in the cook-up, kept most of their shape, they cooked up soft without melting and finished cooking at the same time of the rice. Each grain of rice was discernable and there was no clumping of the finished dish. I tested this method on three different occasions and each time was successful, never mind that the cooking times for the rehydrated peas varied (remember I mentioned earlier about the inconsistency in brand and quality of split peas). The first time it took 20 minutes for the peas to cook, another time it took 7 minutes and on another occasion, it took almost 35 minutes! The peas have to cook to the stage where they are beginning to burst. To test the doneness, apart from the visual cue, when you bite into the peas, they should not be grainy; they should be cooked through and easy to chew.
Add the cooked peas to the pot the same time you are adding the rice. Once everything is added to the pot, give it a good and proper stir, cover, let it come to a boil and cook on high heat for 5 minutes then reduce the heat to low and let it cook until it is done cooking. Do not. I repeat, do not constantly open the pot to check if the liquid has dried down or stirring frequently, there is no need