Hoppin' John

Ingredients

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 ancho chile peppers, chopped

2 ribs celery, sliced

1  medium tomato, chopped

2 cups cooked black eyed peas

2 cups vegetable broth

1 to 3 cloves garlic, minced (or more, if you love garlic as much as I do)

1 tablespoon smoked Spanish paprika

1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke

salt and pepper to taste

In a soup pot saute the onion in the olive oil over medium heat til soft and golden. Add chiles, celery, tomato, and black eyed peas, and saute for ten minutes. Add vegetable broth, paprika, and liquid smoke. Bring to a boil, and simmer for 30 minutes. Add garlic, and simmer five minutes more. Add salt and pepper to taste.  Serve with rice.

 Throughout the coastal South, eating Hoppin' John on New Year's Day is thought to bring a prosperous year filled with luck. The peas are symbolic of pennies or coins, and a coin is sometimes added to the pot or left under the dinner bowls.  Collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens, chard, kale, cabbage etc. along with this dish are supposed to also add to the wealth since they are the color of money. Another traditional food, cornbread, can also be served to represent wealth -- being the color of gold. On the day after New Year's Day, leftover "Hoppin' John" is called "Skippin' Jenny," and further demonstrates one's frugality, bringing a hope for an even better chance of prosperity in the New Year.

Nutrition Information

Serving Size: 197 g

Servings per Recipe: 6

Calories: 213 Calories from Fat: 66

Total Fat: 7.4g, 11% of Daily Value*

Saturated Fat: 1.5g, 7% of Daily Value

Sodium: 274mg, 11% of Daily Value

Total Carbohydrates: 35.6g, 12% of Daily Value

Dietary Fiber: 14.2g, 58% of Daily Value

Sugars 3.8g

Protein 14.4g

Vitamin A 7%	•	Vitamin C 68%
Calcium 4%	•	Iron 23%

*Based on 2000 calorie diet.

Photo from web.