Why This One Works

Split pea soup is the oldest budget trick in the book because it works every single time. The peas cost almost nothing, need no soaking, and cook down into a soup so thick it coats the spoon, with no cream and no flour anywhere near it. The ham is the one real expense, and it is in there for flavour as much as for meat: half a kilogram seasons eight whole bowls. This is the batch to make on a Sunday and eat like royalty through the worst week of the month. The yield was measured, not guessed: about 4 litres of soup, eight bowls of roughly 500 ml each.

Ingredients

  • Dry split peas, 450 gabout $1.79
  • Ham, 500 gabout $4.61
  • Potatoes, 500 gabout $0.54
  • Carrots, 300 gabout $0.86
  • Onion, 200 gabout $0.67
  • Celery, 2 stalksabout $0.89
  • Canola oil, bay, thyme, pepper and saltabout $0.30

Method

  1. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for about 4 minutes, until softened.
  2. Add the split peas, the ham, the bay leaves, the thyme and about 2 litres of water. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer gently for about 45 minutes, skimming off any foam that rises.
  3. Stir in the potatoes, carrots and celery. Simmer for about 20 minutes more, until the vegetables are tender and the peas have mostly broken down and thickened the pot.
  4. Lift the ham out onto a board. Pull off and discard any bone and excess fat, chop the meat, and stir it back into the soup.
  5. Fish out the bay leaves. Add salt and pepper with a light hand, since the ham brings plenty of salt of its own. Serve in deep bowls.
Still Hungry?

A buttered roll or a thick slice of bread adds about 15 cents a serving and turns a bowl of soup into a proper sit down dinner. The soup itself is the meal; the bread is for getting the last of the pot.