Pea soup is not a quick story. In addition, it can be darkened by an unfortunate result. Peas are not cooked, the soup is tasteless, sometimes even looks like jelly. This happens very often. No need to fall into the same mistakes, learn to bypass the pit!
What peas have you bought?
Few people will be delighted with soup, in which whole and hard peas are floating. By default, it should be boiled soft, practically dissolved in broth, to give thickness and its taste. But this is not always the case. No need to buy whole peas for soup, no matter how beautiful it may seem. Preparation will take several hours and it is not a fact that everything will turn out.
It is advisable for the soup to choose split peas, halves that are cooked much faster. Also on sale you can find pea flakes. Product fast cooking. It is specially created so that cooking soup or mashed potatoes does not take much time. You can make soup from whole round peas, but this can take a whole day. In addition, on his surface very often the film, which does not fall apart, remains to float flakes in the broth. It is ugly and ugly.
Good advice! Fresh peas are boiled quickly. Therefore, when buying, it is desirable to focus on the date of production. It is also recommended to conduct an audit in the kitchen cabinets, get rid of stale cereals.
Did you remember the dunk?
Dry peas must be soaked in cold water. It is desirable to withstand at least three hours, and even better to leave for the whole night. During this time, the product will swell, increase in size, become soft, and later prepare much faster.
How to soak:
- In order for the peas to evenly swell, it is important to immediately add a lot of water, it should not just cover it. Pour at least three times more.
- You also need to use large-sized utensils.
- If it is hot in the room, then it is wiser to put it in the refrigerator, otherwise an unpleasant smell may appear.
Swollen peas can be used with the water in which it is located, the soup will be thicker. But before the soaking, you need to rinse the product thoroughly. Otherwise, the broth will become slimy, will resemble jelly, and after cooling it will turn into jelly. If you want to get a light soup, then you need to drain the water and re-rinse the swollen peas.
Where to start: peas and meat
Eternal doubts: what will be cooked faster, meat or peas? No one can answer this question. It happens, everything is cooked together, the meat is already moving away from the bones, and the peas cannot cook. Sometimes it works the other way around. Peas instantly softened and dissolved, and the meat is still raw, it is tough, did not give the taste to the water. What to do?
It is more reasonable to start cooking it with meat, bring it to half-ready or almost to readiness, and then enter the peas. If they are not prepared at the same time, the piece can be removed. Let the meat cool, remove bones, chop, prepare vegetables. While we are doing all this, the peas will be cooked to the desired state.
How many ribs were cooked?
Very often, pea soups are cooked with smoked meats, usually these are ribs. And here the hostesses make the same mistake: they are added very early. As a result, the meat leaves the whole taste. Smoked meats are ready to eat, they do not need to boil for an hour with peas, it is wiser to add them after the potatoes and boil them for literally 15-20 minutes. Immediately cut into slices of the desired size.
Sometimes smoked sausages are added to the flavor for the soup, they need to be cooked even less. You can cut and fill up with roasting vegetables, boil a couple of minutes. In order for the product to share the aroma, but it does not lose its taste, it is better to let the soup brew after cooking. Just leave on a warm stove for about twenty minutes or half an hour.
Tomatoes added?
Any acid has a detrimental effect on legumes. Most often, tomatoes or tomato paste are added to the soup. They lay for the brightness of taste and beautiful hue. This can be done, but only at the very end. If the peas are no longer tough, but have not boiled soft, it is worth the wait Otherwise, he will remain in this state, he will not be able to boil out with the acid exactly.
If you want to add a tomato:
- use a small amount;
- first fry the pasta in the pan, simmer the tomatoes until soft;
- we put in almost ready soup.
We do not introduce a lot of tomato. He will interrupt the natural taste of peas. If using fresh or canned tomatoes, it is desirable to remove the skin.
Frying or overcooking? No, browning!
Onions and carrots emphasize the taste of peas, nothing more needs to be added to the soup, but these vegetables also require proper preparation. In no case it fry them to brown. Even the smallest scorch on the onion spoil the whole taste .
How to cook passerovka:
- Heat the fat in the pan. It is better to use a mixture of vegetable and butter.
- Fill chopped onions, reduce the heat to an average level, do not need to cook quickly, let the vegetable slowly reach transparency.
- After a minute, enter the grated or chopped carrot. Stir, cook for another five minutes.
- As soon as the onion becomes transparent, turn off the plate.
Vegetables should have a pleasant aroma that emphasizes butter. The carrots will be a little brighter, the onion should appear golden, but not brown. We shift the vegetables into the pan for about ten minutes before the end of the soup boiling, bring everything together until ready.
Secrets of cooking pea soup
- If the peas do not want to soften and fall apart, then you can add a small pinch of soda to it. This is done at the end, by no means at the beginning.
- You can soak the peas with soda, but thoroughly rinse them with clean and cold water before adding to the pan.
- If there is no time for cooking peas or it has not been soaked in advance, then you can simply grind the product in a coffee grinder. It is not necessary to bring the flour to a state, just lightly crush it and then fall asleep in a saucepan. For this method uses pure peas.
- What is the difference between cream soup? Naturally, consistency. Any pea soup can be crushed with a blender. And if you add homemade croutons, fresh dill to the table, you get a real fairy tale.
