Pea Soup (Hrachová Polievka)
Ingredients: one 15oz can of peas (or fresh ones), half a large onion, 1 tablespoon flour, tablespoon butter, teaspoon ground black pepper, dough for dumplings, parsley leaves
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Here is an easy soup recipe. It’s for hrachová polievka, pea soup. Peas are commonly grown in Slovakia. I remember as a kid going to my grandma’s house and eating them fresh from her garden. You can use them in rice dishes (like risotto), to garnish meals, or, as shown here, in soups. This soup recipe is adapted from Slovenská Kuchárka, a Slovak culinary classic. There are few different varieties of this soup in the book, but they are all much different from the thick split pea soup so popular here in the United States. This soup is a watery broth, perfect to get your appetite ready for the main course.
Start with a can of peas (hrach). Pour the contents into a pot and add enough water (5 cups worth). If you use fresh peas, first peel them, and then boil the peels. Then strain the broth, add the peas, and use it to finish the soup.
Then prepare the roux (zápražka) by browning the flour on melted butter (maslo). Add the onion (cibuľa) and little bit of water. It’s better if the onion is grated – but I didn’t read the recipe all that close until it was too late. To improve the consistency, I scooped out as many pieces as I could once the soup was done cooking, and ran them through the food processor.
Also add ground black pepper (mleté čierne korenie). This is about 10 peppercorns ground up in a mortar and pestle. And of course, salt to taste. I used quite a bit, at least 2 tablespoons.
Finally, you can make something called rajbanička. I had actually no idea what this was, but I found the recipe on nazjedenie.sk. Rajbanička is basically stiff dough that you grate (rajbať) into the soup to make tiny dumplings. Combine about 2 cups flour, one egg and just a tad of water to make stiff dough. Then grate it, using the wide holes. It helps to let the dough sit for a while so it stiffens.
Top with few leaves of parsley and serve with good home baked bread.
hey, I like rajbanička, I nnever knew how to make it right until some 5 years ago when I went back home and saying to my sis, “how do you do this? I miss it so much in soups.”
BTW Lubos, I love it when you say “I did not read the recipe that close and then I had to improvise” That’s my thing, I try, folloving “suggestions” in a recipe and then I try to fix it. Yep, that’s a story of my cooking 🙂
Thank you for posting this recipe!
My Grandfather used to make this with the only difference being the use of baby shell noodles instead of rajbanička.
I can honestly say I have not had this soup for well over 20 yrs now. The last time I remember eating it was at my Grandfather’s resort in the Muskoka’s in Ontario.
This soup holds such a nice memory for me, and to see it on your site is such a treat.
Oh BTW, I hesitated but we are all Slovaks and there nothing wrong with it.
Do you remember that saying “od kapusty rit’ popusti a od hrachu rit’ je v strachu”?
Haha, totally forgot about it. For those of you who don’t speak Slovak, they saying is (word for word) “from cabbage the butt lets go and from peas the butt is afraid”
Hi Lubos, Michaeal and Allison told me about your website….I will try some of your recipes….BTW did you know that Michael is Slovakian? He thinks that he is Swedish and Irish, but a big part of him is Slovak!! C
Hi Ms. Gorrilla,
Nope had no clue. Neat! Mike and Allie did a great job cooking at the Chicago Festival. Bunch of people came back complimenting them on their halusky.
Just got on soup recipes.Moju hrachovu polievku robim celkom inak,tak ako moja mama.Najradsej ju mam na jar,z cerstveho olupaneho hrachu.Vopred si pripravim potrebnu mladu zeleninu a potom zacnem,lebo trva len par minut.Vylupane struky dam varit a hrasok,na kruzky posekanu mrkvu,petrzlen,cibulu,cesnak, zeler, dam dusit na panvicu s lyzicou,ci dvomi oleja.Asi po 10 minutach zeleninu poprasim mukou(nieco ako zaprazka),lebo usetri cas a zbytocne riady,pridam cervenu mletu papriku a zalejem strukovym vyvarom.Najradsej mam rajbanicku,ktoru prerajbem do vriacej polievky.Moja stara mama to robila rucne a volala to “cipetky”citaj chipetky.Kedze nemam nastavene na slovensku abecedu!!!Ked cestovina vyplava na povrch,polievka je hotova.Posypana na tanieri pazitkou,petrzlenom a zelenou cibulkou.Ak nemam cerstvy hrasok,radsej pouzijem mrazeny.Ma krajsiu farbu a chuti mi lepsie ako z konzervy.
I made this but with the baby shell noodles as suggested by Cassie. It came out a little bland or even “tasteless” to quote my Slovak wife. She said it reminded her of the soup served in the student cafeterias in her time at Comenius University. But it was easy to make and did not require any costly ingredients.
My Gram made this soup all the time. It’s a little tricky to get the dumplings to rise to the top. Mine always sick to the bottom. Also, She mixed the dumplings in a mug, the slowly added the mixture to the soup, while cutting them with a knife.