New Year's Day Black-Eyed Peas with Spinach (No Added Fat, Waterless)

Happy New Year! Eating black-eyed peas dishes, such as Hoppin' John like I made in 2013, or black-eyed peas with collards or other greens, is traditional in the Southern U.S. states on New Year's Day. I was thinking of making a black-eyed pea and collard dish, but the store was out of collards, both fresh and frozen (they did have frozen but not organic, which I wanted to get). Instead, I decided to make a black-eyed pea and spinach main course. Here is what I did.


Ingredients

• 6 ounces black-eyed peas (I used frozen, but as long as they are cooked, fresh would be fine, too)
• 6 ounces spinach (I used frozen, but fresh would be fine)
• 1 cup onion cut into 1/4" x 1 1/4" or so half moons
• 1/4 t (or to taste) salt
• 1/8 t turmeric
• 1/4 t dried oregano
• Approx. 1/8 - 1/4 cup pickled sweet "peppadew" red pepper, coarsely chopped into 3/8" cubes (or, alternately, something savory like olives could be substituted)

Process

1. I put the black-eyed peas, spinach, and onion into a small Saladmaster stock pot, covered, and heated over medium heat till the vapor release started jiggling from steam built up from the food.
2. I reduced the heat to low to get the jiggling to stop, and cooked for over 20m (even less probably would have been enough and beyond that just kept the food warm).
3. When I was ready to serve, I opened the top, mixed in the Sample rice cooking times in a 1:3 ratio of "rice" (really a grass) to liquid for 25-30m. I put the wild rice, 3/4 cup water, and bouillon cube into my Instant Pot pressure cooker and cooked for 23m.
4. After the cooking was done, I waited a few minutes and gently released pressure, then ....
5. When I was ready to serve, I opened the pot, added salt, turmeric, and oregano, and served my daughter, before adding the sweet pepper and serving my wife and me.

I also made brown rice in my Zojirushi rice cooker (1 part rice to 2 parts water, a bit of salt, and a vegan bouillon cube, then "brown rice" program). In the past few years, I've commonly used whole grain rices like Madagascar Pink, Bhutanese Red, and others - they generally cook in about 20-30 minutes, instead of 50 minutes for traditional brown rices. But I have missed the fluffy texture and flavor of "regular" brown rice, and wanted to make some long-grained brown rice today. I sprinkled on some garlic powder over slices of tomato for a salad.

Results

My daughter loved the main course, and I liked it. My wife liked it, but wanted more Indian seasoning. She really liked the tomato and wanted me to serve tomato this way again.

Ideas for the future

I should try more greens combinations with black-eyed peas - and just cooking more frequently with black-eyed peas.