Serve the soup with croutons fried in butter.

At the Beach Hotel, near Cape Town, South Africa, the chef likes to garnish the soup with a little ham and some mint leaves.

1. Pick over the split peas. Soak them for 1 hour in cold water;
2. meanwhile, wash the leeks and chop the white part finely;
3. peel the carrots and slice thinly;
4. peel the onions; thinly slice 1 onion; halve the other one and stick the cloves into it;
5. drain and rinse the peas; place them in a pot with the water, onion pricked with the cloves, bouquet garni and crushed garlic; skim once it begins to boil;
6. in a skillet, cook the bacon bits in 5 tsp. butter until lightly browned; set aside;
7. in the cooking fat, sauté the sliced onion, carrot and leek whites;
8. add a ladleful of cooking liquid from the peas to the skillet; bring to a boil; add everything to the pot with the peas and finish cooking;
9. remove the bouquet garni and onion pricked with the cloves; liquefy everything in a blender; add the bacon bits, 25 g (5 tsp.) butter, salt and pepper;
10. ladle into soup bowls.