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Stewed Black-Eyed Peas

Stewed Black-Eyed Peas

Stewed Black-Eyed Peas

Save for taking a few day trips into West Virginia and having lived in Maryland, I’ve never really been to the South (Southern United States). Still, I’ve been eating black-eyed peas on New Year’s for good luck ever since I learned of the southern tradition.

It’s not that I believe in superstitions or have an affinity for southern traditions; I just like the idea of starting off the New Year with a ritual, plus, I really like black-eyed peas.

Stewed Black-Eyed Peas

Stewed Black-Eyed Peas Stewed Black-Eyed Peas

Stewed Black-Eyed Peas

We grew black-eyed peas the last year we lived on the farm, when I was a kid. At harvest time, it felt like everyone came by to help, even my oldest brother, who I rarely saw growing up showed up. I remember happily skipping through narrow plant bushes, picking pods without a care.

We sat outside at dusk, talking and shelling beans. I don’t recall our parents being around (which would explain why people came to help), but I remember my brother made stewed black-eyed peas in palm oil that evening over an open fire, which we sprinkled with gari and had for dinner.

I like that memory, and it makes the tradition of black-eyed peas at the start of the year meaningful to me.

Stewed Black-Eyed Peas

Luck aside, this stewed black-eyed peas is a good switch from the binge of the holidays, if want to start your year off with some healthful meals.

It’s a deeply flavourful and rich comfort food, and also one of the easiest stews to make.
The is just few vegetables and legumes accented with aromatic spices and stewed over time until the vegetables start to break down, they meld and become a thick and deliciously saucy stew.

I make variations of this stew throughout the winter, in big batches, and with different types of beans.
It’s delicious over rice and quinoa, and over roasted potatoes topped with fried sage – the ultimate comfort food!

Stewed Black-Eyed Peas

Stewed Black-Eyed Peas
A rich, delicious and filling spiced stewed beans; simple and easy to make!
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INGREDIENTS
  1. 3/4 cup coconut oil
  2. 1 tablespoon mustard seeds
  3. 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  4. 1 large red onion, sliced
  5. 2 pounds dried black-eyed peas
  6. 6 large garlic cloves, halved
  7. 5 – 6 plum tomatoes, quartered or 1 16-oz whole plum tomatoes
  8. 6 – 8 fresh sage leaves, plus more for fried sage topping
  9. 1 tablespoon crushed ginger or ground ginger
  10. 1 tablespoon harissa paste (or a mix of ground cayenne pepper, caraway, coriander and cumin seeds)
  11. 1 small habanero pepper, (use half or omit, it’s hot!)
  12. 3 – 5 cups vegetable broth
  13. 11/2 teaspoons sea salt (or to taste)
  14. Freshly ground black pepper to taste
DIRECTIONS
  1. In a large pot or saucepan, heat coconut oil over medium-high heat
  2. Add mustard seeds and cumin, stir and cook for about a minute or so until spices are fragrant and mustard seeds start popping
  3. Add onions and sauté for a few minutes until onions begin to soften
  4. Add black-eyed peas, garlic, tomatoes, sage, ground ginger, harissa paste and habanero pepper
  5. Add vegetable broth to cover beans by an inch (about 3 cups)
  6. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, partially covered
  7. Add sea salt about 30 minutes into the beans simmering
  8. Add more vegetable broth by 1/4-cupfuls as needed to keep beans submerged, until tender (about 45mins to 1hr)
  9. Skim any foam from the surface, check seasoning and add more salt if required
  10. Serve warm topped with fried sage and freshly ground pepper
  11. Enjoy!
the Whinery by Elsa Brobbey https://elsbro.com/blog/

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Stewed Black-Eyed Peas

Stewed Black-Eyed Peas

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9 Comments

  • Reply grace

    you need to come to north carolina, at least! we have so much to offer. 🙂
    these peas look delicious and as a proud southerner, i approve. 🙂

    5 January, 2016 at 7:03 am
    • Reply Elsa | the whinery

      OMG! North Carolina is on my list of places I seriously need to visit. Thank you, I’m glad to have a southerner’s stamp of approval! 🙂

      5 January, 2016 at 10:09 pm
  • Reply Michelle from Honest & Truly!

    That looks amazing! I love that you used coconut oil to keep it dairy free. Definitely something my daughter would love me to make “just for her” (shh, it wouldn’t really be) 😉

    6 January, 2016 at 9:00 am
    • Reply Elsa | the whinery

      Thanks Michelle! I do hope you make this for your daughter… and just for her 🙂

      7 January, 2016 at 11:21 pm
  • Reply Judith Emptybesters

    I am so glad I have discovered this blog. The recipes look absolutely amazing. I can’t wait to try a few of them.

    8 January, 2016 at 4:59 am
    • Reply Elsa | the whinery

      Nice to meet you Judith! Thanks so much for your kind words 🙂 I’d love to know what you think of the recipes when you try them. 🙂

      14 January, 2016 at 12:39 am
  • Reply Robin

    Is 3/4 cup of coconut oil correct? Just wondering because that seems like an awful lot of oil for an onion and 2lbs dried peas. I’d imagine the stew would be quite oily with the 1,560 calories and 168 grams of fat? Sure does look tasty though! Thanks.

    21 February, 2017 at 4:48 pm
    • Reply Elsa | the whinery

      Hi Robin, thanks for stopping by! You can certainly reduce the oil to 1/4 cup or less, it’ll still turn out delicious (with less calories!). In fact, I’m going to try that next time. It’s adapted from an old recipe from Bon Appetit, it calls for that much oil, but I’ll make it again with less and see how it turns out. I’ll be sure to update the recipe when I do. 🙂

      21 February, 2017 at 5:16 pm

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