Why is peas not cooked in soup? This question is asked by many girls. Now let's try to figure it out.
Often, many housewives, when cooking pea dishes, complain that it does not boil, then, on the contrary, softens when there is no need for it. It turns out that it all depends on which variety you have chosen. Let's first understand what they are. Pea varieties are divided into two main types. This is peeling and sugar peas. It is better to eat the second grade in food. To the sugar type can be attributed to the "brain" type of peas. It is considered the most useful. They eat it exclusively in its raw form. The husk variety contains a lot of starch. Therefore, they use it for cooking cereals and various soups.
The problem with cooking peas
Why is pea poorly digested in soup? This happens not only because of the wrong variety, but also from improper preparation for cooking. Soaked for a while, for example. It is also important to know how many peas were stored before preparing them.
The duration of the preparation depends on the timing. Accordingly, the longer the peas are stored, the longer it takes to soak and prepare them.
Proper soaking
It is important to know how to properly soak peas so that it boils faster. It is not enough just to fill the nucleoli with water and leave for a while, you should know all the nuances of preparing such a product. Peas should be soaked only in cold water, otherwise it will simply turn sour. Moreover, it has deteriorated or not, you can understand, just having prepared the dish. Since in raw form neither taste nor color will betray it. Remember that when soaked in water, peas doubles. Accordingly, the liquid should be at least two, or even three times more.
Peas are usually not soaked to make soup. The main thing is to sort it out and rinse thoroughly. And when cooking grain and so soften and almost turn into pulp.
Well, if you are going to cook another dish of peas, and it is necessary that it remains whole, then you need to soak it for several hours. After the peas have already boiled, it must be salted and left in the water for twenty minutes. Then the water is drained and the finished "porridge" is passed through a sieve or meat grinder.
Why is peas not cooked in pea soup?
It also happens that peas are cooked for more than one hour, but in the end they remain undercooked. Then the housewives begin to experiment: they are soaked, then crushed, but, alas, they do not get the desired result.
Try then this. Soak it overnight, and after it has absorbed all the water, fill it again and simmer over low heat, and after that throw it in the soup. During cooking, do not forget to remove the foam. You can also buy chopped or crushed peas. This will greatly facilitate the cooking process.
A simple recipe for crushed pea soup
We figured out why peas do not cook in soup. Now, by the example of this dish, we will tell you how to properly prepare this component.
It is necessary to take 0.5 kg of yellow or green dry crushed peas, 8 glasses of broth. From vegetables, one onion and carrots and a couple of potatoes will suffice. You can also add, if you are a lover of spices, a teaspoon of oregano, the same amount of basil, a couple of bay leaves, a couple of cloves of garlic, salt, pepper to taste. You can still take 300 grams of tomatoes.
Cooking
Bring the broth to a boil, pour the crushed peas into it and leave over low heat. In the meantime, you can cut potatoes, onions, carrots. Put cooked spices (oregano, basil, bay leaf) in the broth.
Now dip the chopped vegetables there and cook for another 50 minutes. If the water boils, add as needed. Now you can enter chopped tomatoes. And cook for another 15 minutes with the lid open. This dish is not only quick to prepare, but also low-calorie, so girls who are on a diet can use it.
Soup for men
For men who cannot live without meat, there is another tasty, and most importantly, easy to prepare dish. To do this, you will need 200 grams of dried peas, a pound of smoked pork ribs, two carrots, one onion, a couple of potatoes, salt, pepper and, of course, cooking oil for frying. Legumes need to be soaked for a couple of hours.
Then we take a pot for two and a half liters of water. Pour peas there and bring to a boil. Then leave on low heat for 40 minutes. While the peas are cooked, do the frying. Grate the carrots and send to a preheated pan. Next we send finely chopped onions. Bring the roast to a golden color. After the peas are boiled, put the chopped smoked ribs. We wait another 10 minutes and add chopped potatoes and fry. Spices are added to the pan 7 minutes before the soup is ready. Turn off and let the dish brew for 15-20 minutes. Everything: delicious, and most importantly - the nourishing soup is ready.
In a slow cooker we prepare a dish. What to do with peas?
We answered the question of why peas are not digested in soup. But I would like to recall the modern kitchen technology, which greatly facilitates the process of fuss in the kitchen.
A crock-pot is perfect for this. Before you cook soup in it, soak whole peas for just a couple of hours. Then rinse it and put with all other ingredients in the slow cooker. Then choose the necessary mode and ... that's it. It will take you no more than an hour to cook soup in a slow cooker. From the products it will be enough to take 300 grams of smoked pork ribs and 50 grams of dried peas, carrots, onions and potatoes. If your family loves thick soup, use more dry peas and less water. The dish in this case is mashed.
Recommendations
We figured out why peas are not being cooked in soup. The tips given below will help every housewife solve this problem. So, the recommendations of experienced chefs:
1. For the preparation of soup, it is advisable to use chopped or crushed peas.
2. Be sure to soak it before cooking. Doing this is necessary only in cold water.
3. Many people think that when cooking peas should be poured with cold water so that it is better boiled. In fact, it doesn’t really matter what kind of water you fill it with during cooking: it will be boiled in exactly the same way.
4. Also remember that peas absorb liquid during cooking. Therefore, it must always be added. But! In this case, you need to use boiling water so that the boiling process of the soup does not stop.
5. If you add tomato paste, vinegar and spices to pea soup , do this at the end of the preparation.
Speed up cooking
Follow these guidelines for the best results:
1. If you want the peas to cook faster, then you should take chopped - exclusively yellow. The rest of the species boil much longer.
2. There is a little secret to speed up cooking peas. To do this, you need to add soda to the tip of the knife while cooking the soup in the pan. She will speed up the process. The disadvantage of this method is that the taste of the soup, although slightly, will not change for the better. However, some housewives recommend softening the water in advance, before laying vegetables. After the peas have softened, the liquid is drained, then the pan is again filled with hot clean water (you can use meat broth) and continue cooking according to one of the recipes listed above.
You can also resort to the method of alternating cooking. That is, after the water or broth with peas boil, turn off the gas - and let the soup boil over low heat. Then add heat, just do not bring the contents of the pan to a boil. As you see the soup boil, reduce the heat again. And so for 40 minutes. What does it give? With this method of cooking, the peas will rise and fall to the bottom of the pan, which will lead to their softening.
Conclusion
Now you know why peas are not cooked in soup. The recommendations given in the article will help every housewife in solving this issue. Good luck!