23.10.11

Black-eyed pea soup

I've had these packages of dried beans and black-eyed peas in my pantry since forever.... my mum brought them for me when she came to visit but I've never known what to do with them. Lucky for me, Laura knew exactly what to do! We have grand plans for my dried green mung beans when the weather gets really cold, but this weekend she taught me to make a soup/stew with black-eyed peas. I'm eating my first bowl right now and it is delicious!! Of course, I left my camera in my office at school so there is no photographic evidence. Next time! :)

This recipe is so flexible. You can incorporate just about anything into it, so it's a very good way to clear the fridge. Try it soon! It's the perfect autumn food. Here's (roughly) what we did:

1. We rinsed about 1 cup of black-eyed peas, and soaked them overnight.

2. Next day, I sauteed red and green peppers, onions, garlic (lots!!), and jalepenos with Italian sausage. I added black pepper and some salt to the veggies.

3. When the sausage was fairly cooked through, I deglazed the pot with chicken stock. Then I dumped in the black-eyed peas (and the soaking water too), added ginger and more garlic, then added more chicken stock until the peas, veggies and meat were just covered.

4. Turn the burner on max. When the soup comes to a good rolling boil, turn it down to med-high and simmer. At this point I was snacking on celery and decided to throw some celery leaves in too!

5. Put the lid on and let it simmer until the beans are as soft as you want it. I kept checking the pot every 15 min or so (I couldn't wait to eat!) and at one point decided to add some Belizean spices in there too.

And that's it! Hopefully you can tell from my sort-of directions.... this is an anything-goes recipe. Have fun and enjoy!

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