New Year's black-eyed pea curry

 

Although I know there are many different cultural food traditions related to the new year, my family never ate anything special as far I as I can remember. However, I saw this recipe for black-eyed pea masala on the Bon Appétit website and was intrigued.

When I made a Mexican-ish black-eyed pea soup years ago, I didn't really like it. The flavor of the peas was much stronger (dirtier?) than other beans in my experience. But it seemed like the start of 2021 was an appropriate time to try a new recipe that might help to bring some good vibes. (Not sure how well it's working so far...)

Of course, I didn't follow the recipe exactly. I used dried black-eyed peas (soaked overnight and cooked separately). I didn't have garam masala or kale, but I swapped in cumin + cinnamon and choi sum instead. I also added a bit of celery fried with the onion.

Thankfully, this take on black-eyed peas didn't have any of the unpleasant taste I remembered from the past. It was delicious with rice and naan I bought on sale at Marks & Spencer. There were also plenty of leftovers to ease us into the first week of the new year.