Cooking peas is often problematic. Even experienced cooks can make mistakes: sometimes undercooked, sometimes overcooked peas.
In both cases, the quality of the dish suffers: the soup turns into puree or the peas become impossible to chew.
A few tips will help you prepare a delicious pea dish so that it cooks correctly and quickly and reaches the desired consistency.
Soaking peas is not necessary at all. Many people soak them, following the common belief that this way the peas will cook faster. However, not everyone knows that peas can simply turn sour if they are kept in water for too long.
For cooking, choose split peas, they will soften much faster than whole ones. In addition, the type of peas can affect the cooking time.
Water will make its contribution to the preparation of the dish: the soup will cook more slowly if the tap water is hard.
Temperature is important when cooking. Pea soup is best cooked in a thick-walled cast iron pot.
A heat setting that allows the peas to rise and fall in slightly bubbling water is suitable.
Do not add salt during cooking. It will make the peas hard and they will take forever to cook. Salt the dish 5-7 minutes before the end of cooking. At this time, add spices.
Washed peas are poured with a small amount of water. After boiling, a glass of ice water is poured in. This procedure is repeated several times to bring the required volume of liquid for cooking. Due to the temperature difference, the peas boil faster.