Pea porridge - one of those dishes that many have known since childhood. Useful and at the same time very tasty, for many children it is one of the favorite cereals, however, adults also eat it in the hunt, especially if you add tasty supplements to it.
Peas are very useful: there are many vitamins - A, B and C, trace elements (calcium, iron, etc.), easily digestible proteins, antioxidants and amino acids. No wonder for our ancestors the peas were one of the most important products, and they made not only cereals, but also soups, jelly, and even pies. Today, unfortunately, the peas are not so popular, however, anyone who watches his figure and wants to be healthy should definitely enter the dishes from the peas into his weekly diet.
Pea porridge is a tasty, nourishing, nutritious dish that is almost impossible to spoil. However, in order for such porridge to turn out to be really healthy and tasty, when preparing it, it is necessary to observe some subtleties. So, let's see what steps are the preparation of this pea porridge.
Pea preparation
First of all, it should be said about which pea is better to choose for cooking the most useful porridge. The most valuable in terms of the content of various vitamins and nutrients is unshelled peas, but such peas must be soaked in water beforehand.
For starters, peas need to be sorted, removing damaged and substandard peas, then rinsed under running water several times and poured into a pan (it is better to use a cast iron pot or coated with Teflon), pour water at the rate of 1 part pea to 4 parts of water and leave for 5-7 hours or for the night. Soaking peas in water ensures its quick cooking, i.e. thanks to this porridge will be puree.
Here, in general, and all the subtleties of the preliminary stage, then proceed to the most interesting - to boil porridge.
Secrets of the correct cooking pea porridge
Putting peas on the stove should be boiled in the same water in which it was soaked. The dishes in which the porridge will boil must be thick-walled and thick-walled - then the peas will boil evenly.
Put the pan on a medium or slow fire and bring to a boil, after boiling the porridge can be salt and mix, and the heating of the stove must be reduced and then cook the porridge for at least half an hour over low heat.
- When cooking peas, do not forget to mix it regularly - the peas burn very easily.
- If the water boiled away, add hot boiled water as needed.
- Cooking time for porridge depends on how much peas are soaked - the better it is when the soak is swollen, the less it will have to be cooked. Usually this time can be from 30 to 60 minutes.
- The pea porridge is ready when the whole peas are boiled soft, and the contents of the pan have acquired a puree-like consistency.
- If you want your porridge to look even more like mashed potatoes - use the usual potato masher: just mash the peas with it to the desired consistency. After the porridge has acquired the desired consistency, additional ingredients can be added to it.
What can be added to pea porridge
In different cuisines of the world have their own recipes for "refining" pea porridge. The easiest way is to fill it with butter and fried onions. Another option - passaged onions and carrots. You can also add fried cracklings, chopped greens, fried mushrooms, fried or boiled meat, paprika and much more to this wonderful porridge.
Pea porridge has just a fabulous taste, seasoned with a cream of 20-22% fat, when fed, but this option is also very high in calories, so it is not suitable for everyone.
At the very end of cooking, to make the porridge taste richer, you can pour a little beef or chicken broth into it, if you want to add mushrooms to the porridge, you can pour in the mushroom broth, and vegetable lovers can give the porridge a brighter flavor by adding vegetable broth.
There are really many options for additional ingredients - it all depends on your preferences and wishes. If you are not afraid of calories - fill porridge with meat or cream, if you want a bright taste without extra calories, it is perfect as a dressing roasted onion, vegetable broth, mushrooms or sweet pepper. Cooking pea porridge, it can be made for every taste - so that it will appeal to meat eaters, dieters and vegetarians.
Of course, you can not add anything to this beautiful gruel at all - its taste is always bright and without additional ingredients!
Pea porridge: a few more secrets
What to do if you decide to cook peas, but you do not have time for soaking peas? It's very simple: wash the peas, pour cold water (the proportions are the same 1 part pea to 4 parts water) and put on a strong fire, bring to a boil, make a moderate fire, boil the porridge for about an hour before cooking the peas, removing the foam that forms. If the water is “hard”, add a little soda (about ½ tsp) to it - then the peas will boil up faster. Salt such porridge only at the end of cooking, after boiling the peas, crush them, then give the resulting slightly watery puree time to thicken.
When cooking pea porridge it can be made more fragrant by adding not only salt, but also some sugar, bay leaf and black pepper.
You can season the finished porridge with sunflower or olive oil.
Perfectly peas with chops and cutlets, pickled cucumbers and cabbage.
Since porridge is very nourishing, it is better to eat less than to eat.
The remaining pea porridge can be used as a filling for pies.
Do not try to cook a tasty pea in a double boiler - something good from this is unlikely to work.
Recipe for pea porridge with vegetables and cream
It will take: ½ cup of peas, 1 small carrot, ½ bell pepper and onion, 50 g of cream, greens, salt.
How to cook pea porridge with vegetables. Soak the peas overnight, rinse several times before that and pour water at a ratio of 1: 2, boil for about 40 minutes in the same water, stirring. Add cream to porridge and knead it with tolkushka. Finely chop carrots, peppers and onions, stew in a small amount of water. Season porridge with vegetable dressing, mix, adding also chopped greens and serve.
Recipe for cooking pea porridge with meat
It will take: beef / pork / chicken / pork ribs, peas, water, onions, salt, oil.
How to cook pea porridge with meat. Pour any selected meat with water, boil it until cooked, if desired, adding seasonings and roots to the broth. When cooking, remove the foam. Remove the prepared meat, finely chop, and filter the rest of the broth and pour the peas previously soaked in water. Cook porridge from peas, boil it for about an hour on a moderate fire. In the finished porridge add the pieces of meat and onion fried in butter, mix and let stand for at least 20 minutes.
P.S. I like pea porridge, although I don't eat it often - it quickly becomes boring. However, it seems to me that I know a lot about it and that is why I fundamentally disagree with the author of the post that you should not practice cooking pea porridge in a slow cooker. Very worth it !!!
Firstly, because the taste changes only for the better; and secondly, the total time is reduced to half an hour. And do not soak. True, I practice only peas. And not in a slow cooker, but a pressure cooker.
The ratio of peas and water / broth - 1: 2; mode - soup or quenching (depends on the pressure cooker model). And the rest (I mean filling) everything is the same - only all products are laid, which, if desired, can be pre-fried in the same pressure cooker at a time, and not in turn, because pressure cooker in the cooking process does not open ...
BelanaD
Pea Porridge with Onions and Bacon
If you want to cook pea porridge and do not want to mess around with peas for a long time, I advise you to buy green split peas (manufactured by Mistral). This pea is good and quickly boiled soft, it should not be pre-soaked like ordinary yellow pea.
Porridge of bright green split peas comes out tender, velvety crumbly. And if you boil it a little longer than it should be, then it turns into a luxurious pea puree. This is delicious.
Pea porridge can be served as an independent dish - nourishing and thorough. She diversifies your menu in Lent. And if you do not fast, then you can fill the porridge with roast onions and bacon or other fatty meat with vegetables. The taste will be even better!
Proportions for pea porridge
Mistral Green Quick-Dried Peas - Great for Porridge and Mashed Potatoes
for 4 servings
- Green split peas (Mistral) - 2 cups;
- Water - 4 cups (if you want to cook pea puree, you will have to pour some more water at the end);
- Salt - to taste - salt only the finished porridge!
- Vegetable (lean) oil.
You can add to pea porridge
The brightest and correct additive to legumes (peas, lentils, beans, beans) - a little sour. It can be lemon juice (sprinkle slightly prepared dish), tomatoes (stewed with other vegetables - serve them as a side dish). Kislinka shows, makes vivid the special, characteristic luxurious crumbly taste of legumes, adding to the dish meaning and sophistication. I would even say that lentils without sourness are not at all interesting and bland… and lemon or tomato juice breathes life into it, turning it into a masterpiece of cooking!
And if you like spicy, then chili pepper will support this line of taste and .... break away from pea porridge or lentil puree will be impossible. Bright, pungent, warm and tasty!
So, approximate supplements for pea puree or porridge:
- For lean porridge: lemon juice, chili pepper (pieces), fried onions (thin rings or half rings) with sweet peppers and tomatoes;
- For peas with meat: fried onions (thin rings or half rings) with bacon or bacon (cracklings). Very tasty pea porridge soaked in chicken fat or mutton juices (can be served with meat, watering porridge with meat juices, formed from frying or stewing).
On the left - pea porridge with bacon, on the right - lean, with lemon and chili pieces
When pickle peas
Friends, remember forever: pickle beans (peas, chickpeas, beans, lentils, beans) only at the end when the dish is ready!
If salt water at the beginning of cooking, the peas will be cooked indefinitely. Like the rest of the bean. Salt inhibits cooking peas.
How to reduce gas formation
You love peas, but fear the consequences ... wash the peas in cool water (changing the water several times). With water go substances that increase gas formation. And porridge from such washed peas will be easier to digest and assimilate.
This is what a green split pea looks like that quickly boils over.
How to cook pea porridge - a recipe
- Rinse peas in cold water several times. Put in pan. Pour cold water. Boil. Reduce heat to low and cook until ready (40 minutes, as indicated on the package), stirring occasionally. If you want mashed potatoes, cook a little longer, then the peas will melt completely. If the water is evaporated ahead of time - add some more.
- Ready to salt the peas, fill with oil (or fried onions, or - onions with bacon). Put on plates, if desired - sprinkle with lemon.
Pea porridge is tastier than hot! But some people like the cold dish.
According to the same recipe, you can cook Mistral red lentils, it cooks faster (15-20 minutes, see the proportions on the package). Also a very tasty dish. But be sure to sprinkle it with lemon. You will not regret! Red lentils with lemon will make an excellent Lenten dish! Other.
Many probably remember the taste of childhood, when in the kindergarten for lunch they served pea porridge, which is recommended for little children, because it is very rich in nutrients and vegetable protein. If you want to cook for lunch something simple, but at the same time very tasty and healthy, then you definitely need to know how to cook pea porridge.
How to cook pea porridge
Cooking porridge from peas is very simple, and you do not need to be a great chef. Serve it to the table as an independent dish, and as a side dish. Remember that if for porridge you use whole peas, and not chopped into halves, then cooking time will have to increase a little.
1. In order to cook delicious porridgeIt is recommended to wash the peas and leave them soaked in cold water for five hours, if there is no time at all, then at least 2 hours. Pour the peas in lightly salted water at the rate of about 2 parts water to 1 part peas.
2. After draining the water, do not forget to rinse the peas thoroughly, as small specks can sometimes be found in it.
3. Now you can start cooking pea porridge. At 500 gr. peas take one liter of water. Fill the peas with water and cook on a small fire, tightly covered with a lid, for 50-70 minutes. If the peas suddenly did not have time to boil well, then you can increase the cooking time by another 20 minutes.
4. When the peas are cooked, remove the pan from the stove and add a little butter to the resulting mass and mix well.
5. In the pea porridge, you can also add onions, pre-fried in a frying pan in sunflower oil. Top with porridge garnished with chopped greens, such as parsley or dill.
How to cook pea puree
Especially gentle mash is obtained yellow crushed wax peas. Therefore, if you have a choice, stop your gaze on this particular variety, since mashing is easiest to make from it.
The method of cooking pea puree is not much different from cooking porridge. The only difference is that mashed peas are recommended to be soaked in salted water not for 5-7 hours, but best of all - for the whole night. Therefore, if you want to please households for breakfast with pea puree, the first preparations should be started in advance in the evening.
1. Fill the peas with lightly salted water also at the rate of one to two. Leave it in water for the whole night.
2. In the morning, drain the water and rinse the peas. Fill it with boiling water so that the water is about 2 fingers from the surface.
3. Put the peas on a strong fire and wait until it boils. After boiling, salt the peas, loosen the heat and boil it for 1-1.5 hours, stirring occasionally to avoid burning.
4. After the peas have cooked, put it in a warm (not hot!) Oven and leave for an hour and a half. During this time, the peas completely soften and turn into a soft mashed potatoes.
5. Take a cup of peas from the oven and knead the porridge with a sieve, tolkushki or even a regular spoon. You can also use a blender for this purpose.
6. Add a small amount of boiled milk and butter to the resulting puree. Mix everything thoroughly again. Puree ready.
Peas are very useful, but unfortunately not everyone loves them. But if you still treat lovers of legumes, then knowing how to cook pea porridge will be very useful to you, and now you no longer have to puzzle over what is so satisfying and healthy to make for breakfast.