300 ml dried green peas
1 - 1¼ l water
half a small smoked pork shank (about 500 - 700 g)
4 medium carrots
2 - 3 medium onions
1 - 2 bay leaves
black peppercorns

To shorten cooking time, use a pressure cooker when making this soup. In order to extract the maximum flavour from the ingredients and the peas to be thoroughly soft, the cooking time has to be considerably longer than those stated in most pressure-cooking time charts or recipes, even though the peas are pre-soaked.

Note:
This recipe is suitable for a small pressure cooker that holds about 4½ litres to the brim. If you have a large cooker, you can double the amount of the ingredients and use a whole pork shank. Nevertheless, ask your butcher to saw the whole shank in half, this way it will give more flavour to the soup.

Left: whole smoked pork shank, right: halved shank

Soak the peas overnight in plenty of cold water. Drain and rinse the peas, discard the soaking water. Peel and quarter the onions. Peel or scrape the carrots and cut in two or three large chunks. Place the pork shank, onions, carrots, peas and spices into the pressure cooker pan and top with water. Add salt, if necessary, only when the soup is ready  —  the pork shank is fairly salty.

Place the pressure cooker's lid on, fitted with the rubber gasket and valve, according to the instructions given in your cooker's manual. Place the cooker on a hot stove. As soon as the water inside the cooker starts to boil, reduce the heat and cook for 1½ hours, adjusting the heat whenever necessary.

Take the cooker off the heat and let it cool until ready to open. Discard the largest of onion and carrot pieces and the spices. Remove the pork shank from the soup, clean the meat from the bone and shred it in small pieces. Either place the pieces back into the soup or serve them separately on a plate. Serve the soup piping hot.

Serving suggestions:
Green pea soup can be served with a shot of warmed or chilled Swedish punsch. A little punsch can also be poured straight into the soup. In addition, hot mustard and/or finely chopped onion or garlic can be served with the soup.

Recipe source: family recipe.