Lazy Day Pressure Cooker Curried Yellow Split Pea Soup

Some days I feel lazy. I don't want to haul out my spice bins, measure out a whack of them to make my own curry but I am starving and I just want to eat ASAP. I might be out of homemade chicken stock too so I will often just grab a box of my emergency stash of chicken broth (low sodium Campbell's for the most part) from the pantry and bag of curry powder. In the days of yore, this soup would have taken far too long for a last minute meal, requiring over an hour to simmer, but with a pressure cooker, suddenly it's doable for lunch. From the very start of chopping to the minute you lift the lid and ladle the soup into your bowl, you will squeak in just under the 30 minute mark, tops, under 25 minutes if you rush it with a ten minute NPR.

My regular Indian Split Pea Soup takes an hour and a half to cook 

Today, I was lucky to find a leek, a half of a giant head of cauliflower to use in place of potato so that my soup can have that thick heartiness that potato gives without all the starch and carbs and a box of frozen spinach in the freezer. Feel free to use onion instead of leek, butter or flavourless oil instead of ghee and fresh spinach instead of frozen because it will still be delicious and, remember, this is YOUR lazy day curried split pea soup too.

Lazy Curried Yellow Split Pea Soup 

makes approximately 3 litres/quarts

2 tbls ghee
1 cup chopped leek
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1" piece of ginger, grated
3 tsp curry powder
1 tsp cumin
8 cups chicken stock, vegetable stock or a mix of stock and water
2 cups yellow spit peas, rinsed and picked over
454 grams ( 1 lb) cauliflower, chopped roughly
125 (4.5 oz) grams frozen spinach
*optional 1 seeded, chopped chili pepper or a pinch of chili flake if you like some heat

Juice from 1 lemon
handful of fresh, chopped cilantro or Italian parsley
squirt of hot sauce if you really want to kick it up

Hit the saute button on your Instant Pot (or equivalent saute button on your alternate brand electric pressure cooker) and when it says HOT, add in the ghee. Saute the leeks for a few minutes until very soft before adding in the garlic and ginger. Stir the garlic and ginger constantly until really fragrant, about 30 seconds, before adding in the curry powder and the cumin and continue to stir constantly for another 30 seconds. Now pour in the chicken stock, water or vegetable stock, add in the rinsed yellow split peas, cauliflower and frozen spinach and any hot pepper or chili flakes if you want it to be a bit spicy. Taste the soup and add salt and pepper to taste before you put on the lid and seal the valve. Hit cancel and then manual and reduce the time to 6 minutes.

When the soup is done, let the pressure release naturally (if you are in a hurry, wait at least ten minutes). Split peas get quite thick and if you release the pressure too soon and you get some soup spurting out, it can clog up the valve so just be patient and let it release naturally.

After you open the lid, mash lightly with a potato masher, add in the lemon juice and cilantro or parsley (and that squirt of hot sauce if you dare) and serve.