Over on Afroculinaria, Michael Twitty has some wonderful teaching about a traditional Sephardic food for Rosh HaShanah: black eyed peas! (Please go read that post – you won’t regret the time – a fabulous description of Sephardic food customs among other things!)
I ate black eyed peas on January 1 when I was growing up in the South. The custom was that if you ate the BEP’s you would have good luck and prosperity in the New Year. Michael Twitty does a great job of explaining why the Sephardim eat them – go read his article!
If you are unsure of what to do with BEP’s, get a can of them at the grocery store. If you are used to making dried legumes, you can go that route. Either way, once you have firm edible beans, you can mix them or serve them with rice for a delicious dish. Personally, I don’t do much at all to them, just serve with rice and a selection of hot pepper sauces. Let your guests choose the level of heat they want.
Some recipes call for meat in the peas. I make mine from dried peas in the crock pot, no meat, just water and beans and some chopped onions until the beans are soft. Then I season to taste with salt and pepper, spoon them over rice and serve. The tray of assorted hot sauces makes for some pleasant conversation at the table.
Happy whatever kind of New Year that you celebrate!
The image with this post is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. The owner is Toby Hudson.
Thanks so much, Rabbi Ruth! Happy New Year (Shanah Tovah) to you and yours!
If there’s leftovers, you can also mush ’em up to make a hummus-like spread. It’s what I usually do on January 2. Add some garlic, lemon, and oil and it’s good eating.
Excellent! I am yet to have leftovers but you never know!
Thank you Rabbi! Been making “hoppin’ John” on Rosh Hashana for many years! Shana Tova!
Mahela
Aha! Another fan of Hoppin’ John! Enjoy!