Jamaican Ital Soup (Vegan)

Jamaican Ital Soup is one of my all-time favorite soups/stews because it’s so flavorful and filling. It’s a Jamaican dish called Ital Soup (or stew). Here’s a little background on why it’s called Ital. The word “ital” is derived from the word vital and is similar to the concept of kosher. Specifically, ital food should be vegetarian, unprocessed, and from the earth.

Ital Soup

1 cup pumpkin cubed big chunks
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 scotch bonnet pepper
1 cup dried split peas
8-10 cups water
1 onion
3 cloves garlic
2 boniato cubed big chunks(white sweet potato)
1 medium sweet potato cubed
2 potato cubed big chunks
2 scallions (aka green onion)
6 sprigs fresh thyme
2 tablespoon fresh oregano
2-3 cups kale cut
2 carrots cut 1″ pieces
1/2 cup celery cut 1″ pieces
2 cups coconut milk
6 okras cut 1″ pieces
tablespoon freshly grated ginger
1 plantain 1″ pieces (I used green banana)
Sea Salt to taste

Directions:

Start with cooking the base of this soup since the dried split peas will take much longer to cook than the other ingredients. Wash the split peas then place them in a large pot and pour in the 8 cups of water. Chop the scallion, garlic, onion, and celery. As the peas come to a boil add chopped scallion, garlic, onion, and celery. reduce to simmer and let cook until the peas are tender (about 45 minutes). Place the scotch bonnet pepper in the pot whole as we want to flavor and not the raw heat. At the end of cooking, you can remove it from the pot.

When the peas are tender and starting dissolving, it’s time to add the plantain, boniato , potato, sweet potato, carrot, and pumpkin. Now pour in the coconut milk and don’t forget to add the thyme, black pepper, and oregano. Make sure you have enough liquid in the pot to cover everything. You can add more water or coconut milk if more liquid is required. Bring to a boil and reduce to a gentle simmer.

Add the okra to the pot. When cubing the pumpkin and potatoes try to keep them all the same size so they cook evenly (cut them in big pieces so they hold their shape as they cook). After 25 minutes everything should be almost cooked all the way through, so it’s time to add the kale to the pot. Allow it to cook for a further 7-10 minutes. Add sea salt, and adjust accordingly.

NOTE: This soup will thicken up quite a bit as it cools, so make sure you leave a fair amount of broth to compensate. Now is a good time to remove the scotch bonnet pepper, thyme, and oregano sprigs.