I bought some black-eyed peas to pad out a Vitacost order. I haven’t made them in a while. In my experience, peas (like black-eyes, split peas, and chick peas) take about half the time to cook compared to beans. With the exception of split peas they tend to stay more intact. And look at this protein content! Ten grams of protein in a quarter cup of dry beans. Kidney beans, pinto, Great Northern … they only have about 8 or 9 grams of protein. Pretty respectable iron content too.
Here’s an old recipe of mine for Black-Eyed Pea Minestrone. I’ll probably use this with some adjustments, for instance, I won’t be soaking them overnight.
My updated recipe:
Ingredients:
3/4 cup dried black-eyed peas
1/3 cup onion, small dice
1 medium carrot, small dice
1 stalk celery, small dice
1/3 cup red or green bell pepper, small dice
1/3 cup fresh tomatoes, minced
1 teaspoon tamari
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 or 2 teaspoons spice blend (I used oregano, cumin, coriander, paprika, garlic powder, pinch of red pepper flakes, and some others. I also have a chili blend if I’m lazy.)
Directions:
Rinse peas and add them to a heavy pot with enough water to cover them a few inches. Bring to a boil, turn off heat, cover, and leave them alone for 20 minutes to hydrate. Uncover and bring to a strong simmer for about an hour, adding hot water to keep the peas submerged.
Add all the vegetables, tamari, tomato paste, and spices. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, simmer for another hour (or more depending on how soft you want the peas). Stir often to prevent stew from browning at the bottom. Add more water as needed (more=soup, less=stew).
For the stew shown, I tossed a handful of frozen spinach into a pot at the end. I think I may add some frozen corn too, then reheat for a few more minutes.
Fanatic Cook 
This sounds really delicious. I have to be careful how much fluid I take in though because too much will exacerbate my urinary incontinence. The other thing I wondered about and I’m not sure of this at all, is whether Tamari soy sauce has ingredients that could be disabled by cooking rather than, say, putting it in after cooking but before eating…. But thanks as always for your great posts!
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Fluid … I hear you. Maybe make a loaf? Instead of meat loaf, black-eyed pea loaf? Well…
Tamari … I don’t know either. You might have a point. When I used miso I used to put it in right before eating so not to kill microorganisms.
I haven’t made this yet. Need to get the carrots and celery, then make the time. I’ll probably end up making changes … I’m always making changes.
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Looks mouthwatering, will try soon. How did it change from before you updated it?
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Looks mouthwatering! How does it differ from the recipe before updating?
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Well, I haven’t made them yet, but I guess the two biggest changes will be that 1. I won’t soak them overnight. I seem to do much better letting them sit in hot water for 20 minutes before cooking them. I can schedule my life better that way too! And 2. I won’t add any vegetables or seasoning up front. Beans seem to cook better in just water in the beginning. They soften faster. So, halfway in I’ll add the vegetables and seasonings.
The recipe I was building this from only cooked the peas for 35 minutes! …
Father Epiphanios, one of the Mount Athos monks said, “You have fast food, slow food and monk food.” I definitely fall into that latter category.
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