Pumpkin and split pea soup

Back after the traditional Christmas over-eating and New Year's debauchery, it's a pleasure to get back to homely winter food. This soup is one of my favorites, but in the way of these things I'd somewhat forgotten about it until I was at my parents' house over the holiday and my mother made it. It's a recipe from Claudia Roden's book of Jewish food - a fantastic volume of ethnography as much as cuisine, delving into the history and myths of Jewish cooking from all over the world, each recipe accompanied by wonderful and scholarly notes.

This soup is, apparently, a traditional Sephardic New Year's soup - appropriate perhaps for this time of year, although obviously the Jewish New Year is in October not January. It is traditional to eat sweet things to wish in a sweet new year - honey, tzimmes, apples - and this soup is sweet and fragrant, warming and comforting, and festive to look at too.

It's an easy dish to make. Simply saute some onion, garlic, fresh ginger until soft, then add the split peas and plenty of water (though not too much - the soup should be fairly thick and you can always add more later), bring to the boil then simmer until the peas are pretty much cooked. Then add the cubed pumpkin (use a small, hard, sweet one with green skin, not a watery halloween-type one), a fairly generous amount of saffron, a cinnamon stick (or powder if that's what you've got), seasoning (a bit of Marigold powder doesn't go amiss) and a tiny bit of chilli, and simmer until the pumpkin is collapsing but not yet mushy. It's good with coriander or spring onions as a garnish.

The best bit about this soup is its texture - the bite of the peas and the soft dissolving chunks of pumpkin. You can squish some of the peas against the side of the pan if you prefer it to have a slightly smoother consistency. It's a thoroughly satisfying dish and I'm looking forward to having the leftovers already.