Hoppin' John -- Rice and Black-Eyed Peas

"I have heard all my life that one should eat black eyed peas on New Year's Day for good luck throughout the new year. It wasn't until I was in my early twenties that my father changed the dish from black eyed peas to Hoppin' John as our traditional New Year's Day good luck meal. It's simple, po' foke's food, and I love it any time of the year. In the directions, I will include substitutions to make this dish vegetarian/vegan. Some history of the dish can be found here --http://members.aol.com/RSRICHMOND/hoppingjohn.html -- It would seem most people cook the rice and peas seperately, and then combine the two to serve. That's how my dad does it. I wanted to cook the flavor of the black eyed peas into the rice. So, this recipe strays a little from the norm, in that I cook the rice with the peas already in the pan."
 
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photo by ATM 67 photo by ATM 67
photo by ATM 67
photo by ATM 67 photo by ATM 67
photo by ATM 67 photo by ATM 67
Ready In:
40mins
Ingredients:
7
Serves:
4
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ingredients

  • 12 lb bacon, cut in 1/2 inch pieces (I use a whole package)
  • 1 medium onion, medium dice (a larger one is ok)
  • 2 (15 ounce) cans black-eyed peas, with juice (1 qt if you cook your own peas)
  • 2 cups uncooked rice
  • 3 cups water
  • 14 cup vegetable oil (for vegan)
  • 2 teaspoons liquid smoke (for vegan)
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directions

  • In a 4 qt or pan brown bacon and cook onion in bacon grease until the onion is transparent. ** For vegan, omit bacon and use approximately 1/4 cup of vegetable oil to cook onion.
  • Add uncooked rice, black eyed peas (with juice) and water to your bacon onion mixture. Mix well. **For vegan add liquid smoke at this point to replace the smoke flavor that would have been added by the bacon.
  • Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to medium.
  • When the tops of the bursting bubbles of boiling water are all of the liquid that can be seen above the rice, remove the pan from the heat and cover.
  • Wait at least twenty minutes, WITHOUT PEEKING!
  • Don't do it. You'll loose precious heat and steam.
  • Serve with bread of your choice, or with the veggies of your choice and plenty of hot sauce. Of course, the variety of hot sauce you choose will depend on your tolerance for heat. If you would like, this could be served as a side dish, as well.

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Reviews

  1. On the dry side..used small can of chicken broth. May add more chicken broth. Any other suggestions
     
  2. Do I cut the bacon and onion before I cook it? What do I do with the bacon after I brown it? Do I leave it in with the onions or take the bacon out?
     
  3. I love this recipe. It's a great quick meal. I use yellow rice alot and throw in some sliced turkey sausage. Easy, quick, and yummy.
     
  4. i love easy recipes and this is one . love hoppin john thank you dee
     
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

<p>At 19 years of age, I was the only child of any of my father's friends who was regularly invited to their gatherings. I was a fish out of water, but it felt good to be included. One New Year's Day everyone gathered for a day of football and food. I noticed two things that day. The women went on and on about how good the different dishes of food were that were brought into the party that day, and I noticed that all the food was cooked by men. It was at that party that I realized it was ok for men to cook. Within a month I was regularly taping cooking programs. (There was no food network way back then. In fact MTV played noting but music videos back then.) Too many years of being single left me with no one to cook for, that is until relatively recently. I am so glad to have had someone to cook for again. I now use RecipeZaar recipes to teach my teen-aged son how to cook.</p>
 
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