When I got that BIG bacon, I wanted to use the big chunks in a soup. My mind immediately raced to split pea -- the bacon replacing the ham. Done and done, I thought. But after searching for the bag of yellow split peas I knew I had never used, I gave up. They were gone, and I had no idea what happened to them.
But hope was not lost. In an Indian-themed shopping spree months ago, I had bought urad dal. A sort of black lentil, it is grown in southern Asia and a particularly protein-rich food that's said to be good for diabetics. It comes a few ways -- you can get it as-is, with the black skins on (what I have), or split urad dal, which has the skins removed.
So I took this urad dal, soaked it overnight, and turned to Lisa's Kitchen for an alternate soup recipe. (Since hers calls for split, I used my mortar to crush the urad a bit, which made it a mixture of split and black.) I cheated a bit since this is a vegetarian recipe, and I threw in a few extra vegetables to use them up, but followed the rest of the recipe as it was written. The result: a very rich, easy, and delicious soup. With a number of hot components added, this is a spicy soup, but one that I found was balanced my the other ingredients floating in the broth. And the urad dal -- it give the dish a wonderful earth flavor, which comes from those black skins.
But just one side warning: Just like cherry tomatoes explode in your mouth, these tomato chunks can, with a much hotter liquid. But other than that, bon appetit!
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