Soups, stews, and casseroles are great ways to stretch any meat while creating a tasty meal.

Pulses (beans, chickpeas, peas, lentils) are cheap, packed with protein, fiber, and minerals, and filling. As inflation continues to spiral upwards, it may be time to revisit these superfoods.

Canned pulses are cheap, but dry pulses often cost about one-fourth as much. A pressure cooker is ideal for cooking dry pulses, and an electric pressure cooker (AKA Instant Pot) makes doing so as simple as pressing a button.

I have been experimenting with making smaller batches of food now that it is usually just Julie and me for dinner. Today, I made a small batch of split pea soup. Let me share my recipe.

Ingredients

-1T butter

-1T cooking oil

– 1 small onion chopped

-2 stalks celery chopped

-2 carrots chopped

– 3 bay leaves

-1/2t of thyme

-1/4t of basil

-1/2t salt

-1/4t pepper

-6 to 8 ounces cubed ham (or 3 slices bacon, or 1 ham hock)

-heaping spoon of jarlic (jarred garlic)

-3C chicken broth or bouillon or Better Than Bouillon.

-8 oz by weight split peas, sorted and washed (around 1 and 1/4 cup)

Dear reader, I have used some sort of pressure cooker for 50 years, and have used an electric pressure cooker for over 15 years. I love to compare gadgets, so I have been picking up used electric pressure cookers at thrift shops as well as off-brand new ones, like the one that I’m using today.

This unit apparently was made for a different market as it doesn’t have dedicated saute or manual/pressure cook buttons. Additionally, it had a dent in its outer case. I got it at a low-low price, fixed the dent and figured out how coax it to do my bidding. I will be featuring some of my other bargain pressure cookers in future post to illustrate that just about any electric pressure cooker can do the job. I have picked up some for as little as $4.99 (thrifted), so price should not be a barrier. An electric pressure cooker can make the task of preparing dinner as simple as tossing some ingredients in a pot, pressing a button, and walking away.

Here are the simple ingredients that you will need.

Place your electric pressure cooker on sauté. This machine doesn’t have that function, so I left the cover off and placed it on the meat program. Doing so will also heat up the bottom of the pot. Let the pressure cooker heat up for a few minutes.

Add 1T butter and around 1T cooking oil to the pot.

Add the ham (or other smoky meat) and let it cook for 4-5 minutes. Then remove it from the pot. This ham was leftover from Easter, and frozen.

Now add your vegetables and let them soften for around 5 minutes. Stir them to prevent burning.

Add the jarlic and cook it for around 30 seconds.

Now add your spices. Stir them until you can smell them. That should take less than 30 seconds.

Return the ham (or other smoky meat) to the pot.

Now add the three cups of chicken broth (I’m using Better Than Bouillon). Scrape the bottom of the pot to dislodge the fond (the stuff stuck to the bottom).

Consider a few squirts of Liquid Smoke; this is totally optional. Only use a little; too much and your soup will taste like a campfire.

Sort your split peas, remove any bad ones (or rocks), then rinse them with water. Add the rinsed split peas to your pot.

Stir it all up!

Lock the cover and make sure that the pressure regulator is on sealing.

Use the manual button and pressure cook for 20 minutes. It will take some time for the pressure cooker to build pressure, then it will start counting down. This photo was taken after 4 minutes of pressure cooking. After 20 minutes let the pot rest for around 10 minutes. Then carefully release any remaining pressure by turning the pressure regulator to vent. Make sure that the float valve has dropped before attempting to open your pressure cooker. Always open the cooker using the cover as a shield.

Note: This pressure cooker does not have a manual/pressure cook button. I used one of the program buttons, then the up and down arrows, to lock in 20 minutes. Do the same if your machine doesn’t have a manual/pressure cook button.

Stir your soup to thicken it. Taste and adjust for salt (I didn’t need any). Optionally, add a few squirts of hot sauce for a little heat.

I’m serving my soup with toast points made from my homemade flaxseed bread. I topped the soup with some oyster crackers and some pumpkin seeds for fun.

The soup was great. There are probably 2 bowls left, which will make a couple of easy lunches. Small-batch cooking can reduce leftover waste. Making this soup was very easy, delicious, and filling.

Peace

Mike