Trinidad Corn Soup

Ingredients

 * 1 lb salted pig tail {substitute with pieces of ham, bacon or Kassler ( this is a smoked pok chop without the bone)}
 * 2 cans of cream style corn
 * about 6 fresh or frozen corn on the cob, cut into 1 inch ( 2.5 cm) pieces
 * 1 lb yellow split peas
 * salt, pepper to taste
 * a fresh hot Trinidad pepper or pepper sauce as substitute
 * chicken stock, either feshly made or made with bouillon cubes
 * 2 sweet peppers, cut small
 * 3 tomatoes, chopped up
 * celery, cut up
 * chive, cut up
 * onion, cut up
 * garlic cloves, chopped fine
 * several leaves chadon bene, cut small( coriander leaves as substitute)
 * a little butter, or margarine to sauté vegetables

Directions

 * 1) Parboil pigtail for 10 min. to get excess salt out (not necessary if using substitutes)
 * 2) In a large soup pot ( or pressure cooker), sauté onion, chive, garlic, celery, sweet peppers and chadon beni for a few minutes
 * 3) Add washed splitpeas, cans of cream style corn, corn on the cob, tomatoes, stock, salt, pepper to taste
 * 4) Add pigtail or its substitute and boil until corn on the cob is soft and the splitpeas have completely dissolved; this may take several hours, less if you use a pressure cooker
 * 5) Make dumplings and add to soup about 20 mins before soup is finished cooking
 * 6) When soup is almost finished, float hot pepper on top of soup, or add pepper sauce to taste when soup is finished cooking.