World AIDS Day and a recipe for coconut yellow pea soup

December 1 is World AIDS Day and I just wanted to do a little public education before getting to today's recipe.

Many people here in the US don't think about HIV/AIDS as a domestic issue but it's still very much here with new HIV infection rates increasing in low-income communities, in women, young people, and still increasing in the gay, bisexual men and men who have sex with men (MSM) population.

Over 1.1 million people in the US are living with HIV.  People between the ages of 13-29 account for 1/3 of new HIV infections.  1 in 4 people living with HIV are women.  AIDS continues to be the leading cause of death among black women ages 25 -34.  In this country.

Globally, 33.3 million people are living with HIV.  More than half of all those people are women. Young people between 15 and 24 account for over 40% of new infections.  And 2.5 million children throughout the world are living with HIV.

Do you know your HIV status?  To find out where you can get tested, go to www.hivtest.org.  And please educate the people in your lives to practice safe sex!

So on to today's recipe:

I've been on a bit of a tear making soups lately - this is a pretty simple one with a few pantry staples and some cabbage, cauliflower, and a piece of ginger, and you could even make this without the veggies if you like and make it straight from the pantry. You can put it together pretty quickly after coming home from a long day at work - just get it going and kind of forget about it for a while.  And a little while later, you can sit down to a nice, comforting hot bowl of soup!  This has a  pretty light curry flavor to it - if you want a stronger curry, go ahead and add more curry powder.


Makes about 8 servings

• 1 lb. bag of yellow split peas, picked over and rinsed
• 2 quarts chicken broth, vegetable broth or water
• 4 inch piece of ginger, peeled and lightly bruised with the back of your knife
• 2 onions, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 3 cups cabbage, roughly chopped
• 3 cups cauliflower, roughly chopped
• 1 x 14.5 oz. can coconut milk
• 3 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp. curry powder
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• 2 Tbsp. kosher salt, more to taste
• Drizzle of olive oil

For the garnish

• 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes, toasted in a dry hot pan

In a large heavy pot or dutch oven, heat a good drizzle of olive oil over medium high heat.  Add your onion and garlic and a pinch of salt and saute for a few minutes until onions are soft and everything is fragrant.  Add the yellow split peas, broth or water, the piece of ginger, curry powder, and ground ginger and bring to a boil.  Lower heat to medium low and let everything simmer for about 20 minutes.  Add brown sugar, salt, coconut milk, and the cabbage and cauliflower and let them simmer until very tender, another 10-15 minutes.  

Blend with an immersion blender, or carefully transfer soup to a blender or food processor in batches (making sure not to fill the blender jar more than half way) and blend until smooth or if you prefer a chunkier texture, blend to your desired texture.  If it's too thick, add a little water and blend in to loosen it up.  Taste and adjust seasoning.  Ladle in bowls and serve topped with the toasted coconut garnish.

When reheating leftovers, it has probably thickened up a bit sitting in the fridge. Just add a little water and stir it in well to loosen it up a little when reheating in a pot or in the microwave.