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One Little Trick That Can Help You Eat Less

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Soup is one of my favorite things to eat at night for dinner, it’s warm, satisfying and completely fills me up if it has the right ingredients. Incorporating all 6 tastes in a meal is one little trick that can help you eat less and this Coconut Split Pea Soup does just that! In Ayurvedic Medicine (a form of ancient alternative Indian medicine), they teach that all 6 tastes – sweet, bitter, salty, pungent, sour, and astringent, should be eaten at every meal for us to feel fully satisfied and to ensure that all major food groups and nutrients are represented. I incorporate this principle in the way I eat each day and also emphasize it in our Meal Plans for Health Program that we launched last month (check it out if you are looking for an easy weight-loss inspired meal plan to follow!)

Coconut Split Pea Soup
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 2 cups yellow split peas
  • 8 cups water
  • 2 medium carrots diced
  • 2 tablespoons minced ginger
  • 2 tablespoons curry powder
  • 2 tablespoons coconut oil or ghee
  • 8 green onions (scallions), thinly sliced (divided in half)
  • ⅓ cup currants (or raisins)
  • ⅓ cup tomato paste
  • 1 14-ounce can of organic coconut milk
  • 2 teaspoons sea salt
  • one small handful cilantro, chopped
Instructions
  1. Soak split peas overnight,
  2. Rinse split peas until the water runs clear,
  3. Toast curry powder on dry skillet until it is fragrant (don't burn it!),
  4. Place split peas in a crockpot with water, carrots, ginger, toasted curry powder, coconut oil, 4 green onions sliced, currants, tomato paste and salt,
  5. Let the soup cook in crockpot on high for at least 4-6 hours,
  6. Add coconut milk and cook for another 30 mins,
  7. Serve soup with a sprinkling of green onions and cilantro.
Notes
*Please use all organic ingredients if possible* Alternatively, you can make this soup on your stove if you don't have a crock pot - Soak split peas over night, Rinse split peas until the water runs clear, Place split peas in a large pot with water and bring to a boil, Toast curry powder on dry skillet and add to lentils, along with carrots, ginger, coconut oil, 4 green onions sliced, currants, tomato paste and salt, Reduce heat to a simmer and cook about 30 mins or until lentils are soft, Add coconut milk and simmer another 30 mins. Serve with a sprinkling of green onions and cilantro.

 

If you are wondering more about the healing Ayurvedic way of eating, check out this chart produced by the Deepak Chopra Center below – you can refer to it as you build your recipes to make sure you are creating a very satisfying meal. If you are trying to reduce cravings or the feeling of being unfulfilled after your daily meals, incorporating the 6 tastes might just do the trick. A side benefit of this method is you will likely end up eating less than you would have otherwise. I definitely have noticed this and I hope you experience the same benefits!

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If you know someone who would enjoy knowing about the 6 tastes, please share this post with them…especially if you notice they have an unvaried or bland diet or eat too much!

Hope you enjoy the soup,

Food Babe

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100 responses to “One Little Trick That Can Help You Eat Less

  1. Thanks so much for the advice. I have to say, you’ve really helped my dad become healthier. He has a lot of problems from his lifelong bad diet, including diabetes. Even though he can’t walk well, his weight has been going down since he’s been eating organic food this year. At his exam recently, it showed that all of his bad levels of things were down, such as blood pressure. My mom asked the doctor if organic food could have done that, and she said yes. He’s not even doing this on purpose. He eats what I make him. You make eating healthy easy with your great recipes.

  2. Split peas do not require soaking to get rid of the digestive disrupting sugars. If you do have any concerns you can add some marjoram, bay leaves, or garlic.

  3. This was so good! I used 8 cups of chicken broth my husband made a couple of days ago instead of the water. Wow! This is going to be a regular in our house now.

    1. And yes, the peas need to be cooked first without salt or they will not break down for days! I also made this same soup using black beans and kidney beans. It was also very good. I haven’t even tried it in the crockpot yet.

  4. I was puzzled about the instruction to boil for 4 – 6 hours, as the dish is said to take 1hr 10mins, what is this meant to say? thanks Carolyn

  5. I made this tonight on the stove top and doubled the recipe. It was absolutely delicious but, like other reviewers, the peas never got soft. They were edible but grainy and had to be chewed. The package said the sell by date is Feb 2017. So I assume they are not old. I soaked them for 24 hours. I cooked them for over an 2 hours on the stove before adding coconut milk and cooking for additional 30 minutes.

    The flavor and aroma was so good that we still enjoyed it, which is good because I made that big pot for the two of us so I could freeze leftovers. Does anyone have an explanation for why peas are not softening? I really want to perfect this. It is so worth it.

    I did add more curry powder than called for and then added some hot curry powder because I wanted it to have a little heat. Otherwise I followed the recipe exactly. This is an incredible recipe.

    1. I researched and this is what I found on web (Did you salt the peas when putting them into the crockpot. Or cook them with tomato of any kind?
      It seems these 2 things will delay (or even prevent) the correct cooking of dried beans, etc. I’ve had this happen to me and I’ve learned to not put tomato products and/or salt until the beans are as soft as I want them.) website)

  6. I loved this soup. Did not have some of the ingredients so I substituted. Used regular onions, lentils. Did not have curry powder so I used a thai curry paste and added cumin, turmeric and cloves. Used 3/4 chicken stock and the rest water. It is the best soup I have ever tasted!!!!!!!

  7. I had a problem with my lentils not softening and I researched on the internet how to fix this. Have not tried yet but I thought I would share. Do not add salt or acids ( tomato) to cooking until beans or legumes have softened, then add.

  8. Was waste of time and money! Cooked this in a crock pot for 6 hours on high and peas were stone hard (I soaked them overnight), then I cooked it for another 8 hours! Guess what?!… Peas were still hard! Now I am cooking it on a stove. Let’s see what happens…

  9. I didn’t have the same problems as per some previous comments. I soaked my split peas for 6.5 hours. I cooked mine on the stove. I put everything in at once (except coconut milk) brought it to bubbling on a high heat with lid on, then turned it down to low and left lid on for remainder of cooking time. Came back every 10 mins to stir it. Put coconut milk in at 30 min mark and again returned every 10 mins to stir. Peas had texture but not crunchy. I figure the extra texture will soften in the remaining serves as I reheat on stove or in microwave. The soup was delicious and filling as described in the article. Thanks for a yummy, healthy and easy soup to make!

  10. This soup was so disappointing. It seemed so creative but the split peas stayed whole rather than become creamy the way pea soup should be. I felt it was more like a very bright vegtable soup. So for the second night I put it in the blender and it was better. But I will not make it again.
    I will stick with my favorite peas soups.
    Sorry Food Babe this one was a loser.

  11. Why would you want to eat less? Living a healthy lifestyle should mean living in abundance, not restricting yourself.

  12. In the outline says cook time 1 hour and total time 1 hour 10 min, however, below in the instructions (instruction 5 specifically) say cook about 4 – 6 hours. So… how long does it take the meal? ?? Thanks.

    1. Trish I was just going to suggest that. I always have red lentils on hand as they cook quickly…will try after I pick up some coconut milk!

  13. Is there any way to have your website available in other languages? I’ve tried to pass on some of your recipes and articles to friends and family but they just can’t grasp the meaning quite well in English. Spanish recipes and articles would be great to share with family.
    Thank you.

  14. I have made this delicious soup several times and my husband and I love it. I finally figured out the this was originally a lentil soup recipe by reading the notes section. I now make it as a lentil recipe and the 1 hour time now makes perfect sense as lentils cook much quicker than split peas.

  15. I didn’t soak the peas overnight. I washed & brought to a boil. Let sit for one hour on stove. (this is the equivalent of an overnight soak) Added all ingredients and let cook about 1 hour more. Added coconut milk last 30 minutes. Total cook time was 1 1/2 hours. Peas were soft and added texture to soup. Couldn’t find currants so I added organic raisins. I added small sliced home-grown jalapeno, green onions, cilantro as a topping. The jalapeno added nice heat. I stayed full for a long time after one bowl. I didn’t think I’d like the raisins but it was a nice “biteful of sweet” to compliment all the other flavors. My 10 year old, picky grandson even wanted seconds.

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