Give Yourself Good Luck in the New Year by Feasting on Some Southern Black-Eyed Peas
Black-eyed peas will supposedly bring you all the money and wealth you could imagine if you chow down on the side dish to begin the new year.
New Year’s traditions have been celebrated throughout many decades, from popping up a bottle of bubbly to toast the new beginnings or making resolutions to pretend to stick with for the entire year. But for those looking to find good luck and fortune within 2017, it’s time you boil up some black-eyed peas and chow down on the Southern staple.
Why black-eyed peas, one might ask? As the tradition goes, black-eyed peas began as a celebration of Rosh Hashanah about 1,500 years ago before transitioning into a food of prosperous futures back during the 1700s in America. Many adapted the idea that eating poor on New Year’s Eve would result in eating fat for the rest of the year, and peas represented the pennies that would pour in over the next months.
Another explanation for this rather random lucky tradition relies on the fact that like beans, peas expand in cooking and therefore, demonstrate the expansion of wealth one will receive in their near future. Although it seems quite petty to put all faith within the peas, it’s still an everlasting tradition nonetheless for those looking ahead to 2017.
Cook up this scrumptious Southern recipe for black-eyed peas to go from rags to riches in 2017.
Southern Black-Eyed Peas
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour
Ingredients:
- 4 cups black-eyed peas, fresh or frozen
- 4-5 slices of bacon
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 celery stalk, diced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 6 cups chicken broth
- ½ tsp. salt
- ¼ tsp. black pepper
Directions:
- Take a Dutch oven to cook the bacon until it gets ultra-crispy. Drain any excess oils by placing the strips on a clean paper towel.
- Cook the onion, celery and garlic together with the bacon drippings until all of the ingredients are tender. Add in the broth, salt, pepper and peas one by one. Bring the mixture to a boil while they cook.
- Once you lower the heat down to a simmer, crumble up the crispy bacon and add to the peas.
- Add any additional seasonings you enjoy to the mix and then cover the pot to allow the peas to cook until tender. Depending on how you like your peas, this could take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour.
- Serve up with any other Southern sides you like, including collard greens or sweet potatoes and enjoy!
