Yellow Split Pea Soup with Chicken Meatballs

Steps

1. Add chicken broth, dry yellow peas, onion, 3 cloves of minced garlic, carrots, celery and potato, sesame oil, thyme, oregano and dry mustard to crock of slow cooker. Do not add the salt at this step as it slows down the cooking of the dried peas.

2. Cover and cook on HIGH for 5-6 hours (LOW 10-12 hours) or until peas are tender and disintegrating. Puree half of the soup using a hand held (immersion) blender or put half the soup in a regular blender and puree, returning pureed soup to crockpot.

3. Make the meatballs near the end of the cooking time for the peas and vegetables. Tear bread into tiny pieces by hand. Mix with ground chicken, an egg, black pepper, onion powder and remaining minced garlic in a bowl. Form into half ounce (1 Tbsp/15 mL) size meatballs. A one-quarter cup (60 mL) measure can be cut into four pieces and then formed into balls by hand. If the meatballs are ready before the peas have cooked you should store in the refrigerator.

4. Add meatballs to the slow cooker and stir gently. Cover and cook an additional 1 hour on HIGH setting (2 hours on LOW setting) until meatballs are cooked through.

5. Stir in salt, vinegar and minced fresh parsley.

6. To serve, ladle hot soup into bowls dividing the meatballs amongst them.