Ciabatta Bread and Split Yellow Peas Dal

Split Yellow Peas Soup and Ciabatta Bread

I was overjoyed when I spotted a bag of lentils in Harris Farm Market. All set to make Sambar, I picked up a kilo and got back. It was only once I came home that I saw that what I had got was not Tur Dal, but Split Yellow Peas! Green-peas-sambar-made-with-split-yellow-peas, somehow just did not seem right.

I started googling too see what can be made with these lentils, until I chanced upon Split Peas Soup, with a dollop of curd and chopped olives. I don’t remember where I saw it, and soon forgot about it.

Yesterday I made a simple dal, by pressure cooking the peas, and giving a ghee tadka with a dash of asafoetida, a spoon of cumin and some red chillie powder. This was to be the side dish for chapattis. I opened the drawer for chapattis, when I noticed a fresh loaf of ciabatta bread that I had just bought that morning. My simple chapatti dal dinner menu changed in a jiffy, into a more exotic one!

Ciabatta Bread and Split Yellow Peas Dal
Ingredients for the Bread
Ciabatta Bread - a loaf
Grated cheddar cheese - as much as you want
Olive Oil - 2 Tbsp
Salt and Pepper - 1/4 tsp each
Method
Cut the bread into thick slices, and pop it in the oven at 350degrees. After six minutes, top the bread with grated cheddar cheese. Take it out of the oven when the cheese melts.
Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper, and serve immediately with the split yellow peas soup.
Ingredients for the soup
Split Yellow Peas - 1 cup
Water - 5 cups
Salt - to taste
ghee - 1tsp
asafoetida - a pinch
jeera (cumin) - 1 tsp
red chillie powder
Ingredients for the Topping
Sour cream - 1 tbsp per cup of soup
Diced black olives - 1 tbsp per cup of soup
Method
Pressure cook the peas, until soft. Let it not become a mash. Add salt. Heat ghee in a pan, and add asafoetida and jeera. Once the jeera splutters, switch of the flame. Now add the chillie powder, while the pan is still hot and swirl in the oil to fry. Pour this into the peas and mix. Serve in a soup cup, with a dollop of sour cream and diced black olives.