Spicebox Kitchen: Chilled Mint Pea Soup Recipe

‍Chilled Minted Pea Soup with Indian Spices

Serves 4

Daniel Patterson, the founding chef at Coi in San Francisco, created a lovely chilled minted pea soup, which inspired this recipe. Its sweetness is tempered by the tang of buttermilk, which gives it both a richness and silkiness that elevate it from its simple origins. I’ve adapted Chef Patterson’s recipe, which reminded me of the classic English dish of mushy peas, by garnishing it with a swirl of an Indian spice–infused oil, with a nod to the mint chutneys that I ate with samosas, papadums, and kebabs while traveling in London.

Ingredients:

Soup

2 cups buttermilk (To make this vegan: put 2 tablespoons of lemon juice or white vinegar, and fill the rest of the 2 cups with plant milk, we like soy. Let sit for 10 minutes at room temperature)
4 cups frozen green peas
Salt
10 fresh mint leaves, plus more sprigs for garnish
Freshly ground black pepper
Fresh peas, for garnish

Indian-Spiced Oil

1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 cup olive oil
4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
2 quarter-size slices fresh ginger, slightly crushed
2 tablespoons minced onion
2 Thai green or 1 Serrano chile, minced
2 tablespoons cilantro, minced

Instructions: 

Prepare soup: In a medium-size saucepan, bring buttermilk to a simmer and add peas and a large pinch of salt. Simmer for 1 to 2 minutes over medium heat, stirring often so that buttermilk does not boil over. Peas should not be fully cooked, just warmed—you want them to remain brilliant green.
Transfer peas and liquid immediately to a blender along with mint leaves and, starting on low speed, carefully blend (holding lid on firmly with a dishcloth), working up to high speed for 60 seconds.
To preserve the vibrant color and flavor of the peas, the soup must be cooled immediately. Pass through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl set into an ice bath. Stir continuously until soup is cool. Adjust seasoning with salt and black pepper. Refrigerate until cold.

While soup is chilling, make Indian-spiced oil:
Heat a dry skillet over medium heat. Add cumin seeds and lightly toast for a few seconds, until aromatic, being careful not to burn them. Remove toasted seeds from pan.
Add olive oil to pan and heat over medium heat.
Add garlic, ginger, onion, chiles, and cilantro and sauté for a few minutes, or until onion is translucent.
Remove from heat and pour over half the toasted cumin seeds, reserving the other half of seeds for garnish. Allow oil mixture to sit for at least an hour for flavors to infuse.
Strain infused oil and transfer oil to a squeeze-tip bottle.
To serve, ladle soup into bowls or shot glasses. Use a squeeze bottle to swirl a stream of infused oil on top, and garnish with fresh peas, mint sprig, a pinch of toasted cumin seeds, and black pepper.