Corn soup

As tradition built it

Corn soup

Trinidad; prep 15 minutes, cook 35

Ingredients

Soup base

• 2/3 cup split peas
• 1 cup channa
• 6 to 8 cups water
• 4 ears of corn
• 1 cup pumpkin
• 1 carrot
• 1 onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 stalk chive
• 1 stalk celery
• 2 pimento

Dumplings

• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup cornmeal
• as available oil, rubbed in to keep the dumplings from hardening

Method

1. Simmer two-thirds cup split peas and 1 cup channa in 6 to 8 cups water for the backbone of the pot.
2. Add 4 ears of corn, a cup of pumpkin, carrot, onion, garlic, chive, celery and pimento.
3. Finish with dumplings of flour and cornmeal rubbed with oil to keep them from hardening; prep 15 minutes, cook 35.

What a modern chef changes

Roasted Corn Stock, Blended Body

Method

1. Roast the corn cobs before they go into the pot, deglaze, and pass the finished broth through a chinois for a rounder, sweeter base than boiling them straight gives.
2. Blend a portion of the finished soup in a high-power blender for body, then return it to the pot, rather than relying on the split peas alone to thicken it.