Trinidad Corn Soup

Trinidad Corn Soup

Time: 1 hrs 20 mins

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 lb potato, peeled and quartered
• 2 carrots, diced
• 1/3 cup chives, chopped
• 1/4 cup celery, finely chopped
• 1/3 cup fresh thyme, chopped
• 3/4 cup yellow split peas
• 2 pimento pepper (optional)
• 8 cups chicken stock
• 1 scotch bonnet peppers or 1 habanero pepper, left whole
• 1/2 cup coconut milk (optional)
• 6 ears corn, cut into 2inch pieces
• 8 dumplings (or more)
• 1/4 cup culantro, chopped (substitute cilantro)
• salt
• black pepper

Directions

• 1 In a large soup pot heat oil.
• 2 Add the onions and garlic and saute until fragrant.
• 3 Add the potatoes, carrots, celery, thyme and pimento peppers and cook for about 5 mins stirring constantly.
• 4 Add the split peas and stock.
• 5 Add salt and black pepper to taste.
• 6 Add the scotch bonnet pepper and if using the coconnut milk.
• 7 Cover the pot and simmer for about an hour until peas are soft.
• 8 Use an immersion or ordinary blender and puree soup to a thick and creamy consistency and return to the pot.
• 9 Add corn and dumplings and cook for a further 20 minutes until corn is cooked and the dumplings float to the surface.
• 10 Add culantro, remove from the heat, taste and adjust seasonings.
• 11 If soup is too thick at any time, add water.