Soup, especially red pea soup, is comfort food to me. I make it when it rains or snows, when it’s cold or when I need a pick-me-up. Sometimes, I make it just because.
I love soup. I love the convenience of it. Even cleanup is simple as there’s only one pot. The only thing to master about making soup, however, is timing. Too little and you end up with a broth; too much and you get something close to porridge. I like mine after the peas and potatoes have broken apart, giving the soup ‘body.’
Soup was a typical Saturday meal in our house. When the butcher brought fresh beef, we’d have beef soup. Otherwise, it’d be chicken, pig’s tail, corned beef, or a combination. And there was always some type of pea or bean – pigeon (or gungo), red, split, etc., vegetables, yam, potato and dumplings or spinners.

Soups made from a variety of meats or vegetables are typically found on menus in restaurants, cook shops and street vendors. Expect to see corn, cow skin or foot, chicken foot, crayfish (or janga), fish (popularly called fish tea, not fish soup), pepperpot, etc. The star of any gathering, from weddings to wakes, is mannish water, which is also called goat soup or goat belly soup. It’s made from, you guessed it – goat, including the innards.
Have a foodie post you’d like to share? Join the #FoodieTuesday party and add it here –
- Add the link to your foodie post in the link tool below.
- As a courtesy, please include a link back to this post.
- Leave a comment and do the same for the other posts.
- If you Tweet, G+, Facebook use the hashtag #FoodieTuesday.

Spinners sound kind of like dumplings…is that the same thing?
That’s chock full of great ingredients, although as a non-meat eater, I’d have to adapt it. Don’t see why I can’t, though.
YUM-A-Licious!! I love your Foodie Tuesday posts!! Keep all of the deliciousness coming my friend!!
You are so right about soup being comfort food. There are times when nothing else will do. Wonderful to have it homemade like your recipe here. Looks totally delicious.
I’m amazed at the many different kinds of soups you mentioned. But there was an interesting comment about pigeon (or gungo). Are spinners a type of noodle?
This looks a lot more interesting then the split pea soup I’m used to – I think I would like it more with the meat.
Okay, now I know we are sisters! There is nothing I love more than pea soup and this recipe is a definite keeper!
This looks so hearty and comforting to the soul on a cold day!! I just copied and pasted this and I’m going to make it this Fall! Would be correct to call it Jamaican red pea soup??
Yes, Sonja, spinners are dumplings. They’re long instead of round.
So true, Cathy. Sometimes, nothing else but soup will do.
on rainy days like today, this would be a welcomed dish to have even though the rain is not so cold in our area…can I have my bowl now please?
Looks yummy! Pea soup (though not red peas) used to be quite a common dish up here too, often made on – or even with – cured ham. It was often used as a midnight snack at parties.
There’s a restaurant in Scottsdale that makes a similar sounding soup and I literally swoon over it. This looks so good.
Yummy!
Thank you for the recipe…
Marcia, you read my mind! Just this morning I was thinking of your recipe and wondering if you might put up a Print function sometime! I logged on and lookee there….thank you!
This looks so good! I’m not quite ready to move to soup yet (temp in Fort Worth reads 98 right now), but I spend all winter eating it. Will definitely try.
Thanks for sharing this recipe. I’m going to print it and cook it this fall. I love a good soup too. I have so many soup recipes. Jave often talks about fish tea and mannish water. I’ve had fish tea, but not mannish water. I’ll have to give it a try.
I was looking for a new kind of soup recipe and must say I am more than glad to get this red pea soup recipe. The soup looks so delicious, I can’t even wait for a day to try out this recipe. Thanks for the share.
You’re welcome, Anusha!
You’re welcome, Dana. You should give it a try.
Fish tea is simpler to make than mannish water but I’ll have to try it one day.
Yes, we are! Hope you get to try it soon, Jackie.
Hello there, There’s no doubt that your web site may be having browser
compatibility issues. Whenever I look at your web site in Safari,
it looks fine but when opening in Internet
Explorer, it has some overlapping issues. I merely
wanted to give you a quick heads up! Apart from that, fantastic website!
Sorry about that, Virginia. Thanks for letting me know.