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Hoppin' John
New Year's black-eyed peas and rice with smoked pork
Hoppin' John is eaten on New Year's Day across the South for luck, with collard greens for money and cornbread for gold, and its roots run back to the rice plantations of the South Carolina Lowcountry and the West African cooks who worked them. Black-eyed peas are simmered with smoked pork (here a ham hock and bacon), then cooked with rice so every grain takes on the smoky broth. Chef's tip: cook the rice in the bean liquor, not water; that is where all the flavour is.
- Total time
- 85 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 6
Ingredients
- 10 ½ oz dried black-eyed peassoaked for 4 hours
- 1 smoked pork ham hockabout 700 g
- 4 rashers smoked streaky baconchopped
- 1 oniondiced
- 1 celery stickdiced
- 1 green pepperdiced
- 2 cloves garliccrushed
- 6 ¼ cups water
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ tsp dried thyme
- 9 oz long-grain ricerinsed
- 1 tsp salt
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
- 3 spring onionssliced
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Method
0/6 doneStep 1: Simmer the 1 smoked pork ham hock in the 6 ¼ cups water with the 1 bay leaf for 40 minutes, covered.
40 minStep 2: Meanwhile fry the 4 rashers smoked streaky bacon in a large pot until crisp, then add the 1 onion, 1 celery stick, 1 green pepper and 2 cloves garlic and cook 8 minutes until soft.
12 minStep 3: Drain the 10 ½ oz dried black-eyed peas and add them to the hock pot with the ½ tsp dried thyme. Simmer for 25–30 minutes until the peas are tender but whole. A common mistake is stirring hard, which mashes them.
30 minStep 4: Lift out the hock, pull the meat off in shreds and discard the skin and bone. Measure 600 ml of the cooking liquor.
10 minStep 5: Add the peas, ham, measured liquor, 9 oz long-grain rice, 1 tsp salt and ¼ tsp cayenne pepper to the bacon pot. Bring to the boil, cover tightly and cook on the lowest heat for 18 minutes.
20 minStep 6: Rest 10 minutes off the heat with the lid on, fluff with a fork and scatter with 3 spring onions.
10 min
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 390 kcal
- Protein
- 18 g
- Carbs
- 55 g
- Fat
- 10 g
- Fibre
- 8 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does hoppin' John take?
- About 85 minutes in total: 15 minutes to prepare and 70 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 6 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- What can I use instead of onion?
- 2 shallots per onion.
- What can I use instead of celery stick?
- Fennel, same weight.
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