Yellow Split Pea Stew with Chard, Kale, and Corn, served with Pesto Toast (No Added Fat)

I made five side dishes for a client yesterday and one came out particularly well, using yellow split peas, ginger, and vegetables. I thought that I'd make something like that for my family tonight.


Ingredients

• 1 cup yellow split peas
• 3 cups water
• 2 cloves garlic, finely (1/8") diced
• (Optional) Additional clove or two of garlic similarly diced (I had some green garlic and used it by chopping about a tablespoonful into about 1/4" cubes)
• 1 cup carrot, cut into 3/8" slices (I used 3 small carrots)
• 2 leaves chard (I used red chard), stems hand separated from leaves
• Leaves roughly hand torn into approximately 3/4" squares (a bit over a cup, tightly packed)
• Stems chopped into 3/8" lengths (a bit less than 1/2 cup)
• 2 leaves kale, stems hand separated from leaves
• Stems discarded (composted)
• Leaves roughly hand torn into approximately 3/4" squares (a bit less than a cup, tightly packed)
• 1 T ginger, diced to about 1/4" or smaller pieces
• 1 cup corn kernels (I used frozen, but fresh would be fine)
• 1 cup chopped (1/4") sweet (or other) onion
• 1/8 t turmeric
• 1/4 t ground cumin
• Approx. 1/2 t salt (or to taste)
• 1t lime (or lemon) juice

Process

1. I rinsed the split peas several times then put then into the Instant Pot pressure cooker, along with water, garlic, and green garlic.
2. Split peas take 8-10 minutes to cook under pressure; I cooked for 7 minutes.
3. When the pressure cooker was done, I let it sit for a few minutes, slowly let out the remaining pressure, and carefully opened the pot.
4. I added the carrot, greens, ginger, and corn, and cooked for another 2 minutes.
5. When I was ready to serve, I opened the pressure cooker as before, mixed in the onion and spices, as well as the lime juice, and served.

I also heated some bread, topped with the pesto sauce that I had made on Wednesday and a little nutritional yeast, and served with some mixed lettuces.

Results

Dinner was great! We all enjoyed it. The main course was quite nice and I'm glad that my daughter, who is spice averse, didn't taste the ginger. I'm delighted that I have a good pesto recipe - it sure made for a good seeded ciabatta toast.

Ideas for the future

I loved the stew as it was, though initially I had thought I'd make a firmer dish that could be plated and not served in a bowl. It might be interesting to use half the water and see how that comes out.