This is a nice rich vegetarian version of classic yellow split pea soup.

Hayboxing is an old way of cooking with little power & little equipment. You can make this in a slow cooker, simmer it on the stove, pop it in an oven but why waste all that power?

Step 1: Ingredients

This is a loose & easy recipe. I give amounts as a general guideline. More or less of most things are acceptable as are substitutes. This one goes with the flow nicely.

1 - 500 gram (1 pound) bag of split yellow peas, green are fine if you like them, I don't!

1 - Large onion, chopped fairly fine.

4 - Cups of vegetables, chopped coarse. I used brocolli, cauliflower & carrots. Frozen work well too, California mix is a go to.

3 - Litres (quarts) of water

Salt...it's the horrid to taste instruction although I would say at minimum a teaspoon, this is a big batch.

Pepper...again to taste & its optional.

Step 2: Assemble

Toss it all it a large soup pot with a snug fitting lid. This one is a caldero about 30cm (12") across & 10cm (4") deep and as you can see it came out near full. It expands during cooking so its best not to have the pot over 2/3 full when its raw.

Step 3: Prepare the Haybox.

Hayboxing is insulating the cooking pot & allowing it to slow cook without additional power. It's great for most any food you would slow cook or simmer. Be careful with large pieces of meat like a roast as the temperature can vary...it can be done just watch that it stays hot & not warm for too long.

My haybox is my bed, I put a towel down (the brown) mostly is case of a spill. My mattress is memory foam that holds the heat well but if you have an inner spring mattress you should put a blanket under for a better heat retention. Then pile up a couple blankets, pillows, what you have. The more the better up to a point...you do want to find it! Have it laid out in advance so you don't lose your heat.

Step 4: Cooking

Bring the pot to a gentle boil & give it a couple minutes to be sure it's all hot. Put on the lid & quickly put it into the area you prepared & cover it up. Be sure it's well surrounded on the sides too. Now leave it be!

It will take 4 - 6 hours & you might want to reheat it half way through although with a good pile of insulation like in the picture it wasn't necessary.

At the end it is best to bring it back up to a strong summer for a few minutes. Hayboxing can fall to unsafe temperatures so reheating at the end will make sure it's safe. This is vegetarian so spoilage is much less of an issue than meat dishes. I still haybox those but I do reheat midway just to be safe.

Step 5: Summation

If you cooked this soup conventionally you would use a lot more power. This pot made about 16 cups of very thick soup. Total time on the heat was about 15 minutes. 10 for the initial boil & 5 to finish it. This soup is very forgiving & you could leave it for a lot longer of you wanted to have it cook while you are off for the day.