**Jamaican Red Pea Soup Recipe**

Like most Jamaican soups, Red Pea Soup is more like a stew.

It’s a main meal not a starter soup or one you’d have with salad or sandwich.

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Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups Dry red peas (kidney beans)
• 8-10 cups Water, approx.
• 1 lb Stewing beef
• 1 1/2 lb Pig’s tail or ham hock (optional)
• 1 large piece Yellow yam
• 1 large Sweet potato
• 1 medium onion, chopped or 3 Stalks green onion, chopped
• 1 tsp Dried thyme or 3 stalks fresh thyme
• 1 tsp Pimento seeds (optional)
• 1 tsp Hot pepper sauce
• 1/2 tsp Black pepper
• Salt and pepper to taste

Dumplings

• 1 cup flour
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Mix together to make stiff dough

Overnight prep

1. Place dry kidney beans in large soup pot on stove, cover with water and soak overnight
2. If using, place pig tails in bowl, cover with water and soak overnight in fridge to remove excess salt

Method

1. To remove more excess salt, put soaked pig tails in a pot, cover with fresh water and bring to a boil. Repeat this step two more times.

2. Place stewing beef in pot with red peas and add enough water to cover the two ingredients.

   Bring to a boil then reduce heat to simmer for about 1 hour, or until peas and beef are cooked.

   Note: the beef will likely be cooked before the peas, so remove when tender.

3. At the same time, in a separate pot cover pig tails with water, bring to a boil and then reduce

   heat to simmer until tender, about 1 hour.

Note: In both pots, as water evaporates when cooking, add boiling water to cover ingredients.

1. When all the ingredients are tender add pig tails (with liquid) to pot with peas and beef and continue simmering.

2. Peel and cut yam and sweet potato into large serving pieces; add to boiling soup.

   Add boiling water to pot to semi cover yams and potatoes.

3. Make dumplings (see above and video) and add to boiling pot of soup.

4. Add onion, thyme, pimento, hot pepper sauce and black pepper to soup pot and simmer

   until yams and potatoes are tender and soup has thickened.

5. Taste soup for flavour and add salt or pepper, if needed.

bon appetit