Jamaican red pea soup with spinners
Kidney beans, potatoes and sweet potato simmered in coconut milk with thyme and a whole chile, with little dumplings called spinners cooked right in the pot.
- 70 min total
- 35 min hands-on
- A little more hands-on
- Serves 6
- About $1.73 a serving
- 460 calories
- Good the next day
- Vegan
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 6 servings.
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 green onions, sliced
- 2 cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 lb Yukon Gold potatoes, diced
- 1 sweet potato, peeled and diced
- 2 carrots, sliced
- 3 vegetable bouillon cubes, check the box: most cubes make 2 cups each
- 1 can coconut milk
- 1 jalapeño, left whole, poked with a fork
From your pantry
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 6 cups water
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 460 calories, 14 g protein, 67 g carbs and 17 g fat, and costs about $1.73 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No green onions? Chives work.
- No kidney beans? Pinto beans or black beans work.
- No Yukon Gold potatoes? Russet potatoes or red potatoes work.
- No coconut milk? Light coconut milk works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the onion, the garlic, the green onions, the beans, and dice the potato and sweet potato and slice the carrots.
Dice. Dicing means cutting food into small, even cubes, usually a quarter to half an inch across. Pieces the same size cook at the same speed, so nothing burns while the rest catches up.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are little cubes about the size of a chickpea, and they all look close to the same.
Mince. Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.
How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.
Slice. Slicing means cutting food into flat pieces of about the same thickness. Even slices cook evenly, so none are raw while others burn.
How you’ll know: Lay a few side by side: they’re close to the same thickness from one end to the other.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat and cook the onion, garlic and half the green onions for 4 minutes, until soft.
Medium heatTimer: 4 min
Add the beans, water, bouillon cubes, coconut milk, thyme and the whole jalapeño, over high heat, then mash about a third of the beans against the side of the pot.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Dolly’s tip: The whole chile flavors the soup without making it fiery, as long as it doesn’t burst. Fish it out before serving.Add the potatoes, sweet potato and carrots, turn the heat to low and for 15 minutes.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Low heatTimer: 15 min
While it simmers, stir the flour and salt together in a bowl, then add about 6 tablespoons of water a little at a time, mixing with your hand, until it forms a firm dough. Knead it for 1 minute.
off small pieces of dough and roll each between your palms into a skinny 2-inch spindle.
Pinch. A pinch is what you can hold between your thumb and two fingers, less than an eighth of a teaspoon. It’s a small, forgiving amount, so there’s no need to measure.
How you’ll know: It’s a light sprinkle you can barely see on the food, not a little pile.
Dolly’s tip: They should be about as thick as your pinky. Thin spinners cook through; fat ones stay doughy in the middle.Drop the spinners into the simmering soup and cook for 15 minutes, stirring gently now and then, until they’re firm and cooked through.
Low heatTimer: 15 min
Fish out the jalapeño, stir in the pepper and the rest of the green onions, taste for salt, and serve.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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