Directions for cooking
1. Measure 2 cups dried black-eyed peas
2. Rinse the peas
3. Put in pressure cooker or pot or slow-cooker
4. Cover peas with plenty of water 

5. Cook black-eyed peas for five or six whistles (about 25 minutes) at just below-boiling temperature
6. Take pressure cooker off heat

7. Let cool (it is dangerously hot at this time)
7. Chop onion finely; fry half of the onion in a pan with about 2 tablespoons of oil
8. Add one or two dried red chilies in pan with oil and fry with onion
9. PERFORM SAFETY CHECK HERE before taking lid off (link here)
10. CAREFULLY pour cooked black-eyed peas into pan where onions and red chillies are frying
11. Salt to taste
12. Mash some of the black-eyed peas in the pan to make a thicker gravy


Serve over mashed potatoes (link here) with chopped onion and sweet relish


Important note about cooking any legumes. Acidic ingredients like tomatoes and lemon juice STOP legumes from becoming tender. The acidic ingredients interact with the skins of the legumes and it makes them tough regardless of the amount of time you've been cooking them. So cook your legumes completely before adding any ingredients that are acidic in nature.

To save on time I cook a large batch of legumes before I even need them for a meal. I divide the batch of cooked legumes up and freeze them in little plastic bags. Then on another day, I cook the COOKED and now frozen legumes together with the other ingredients like onions and tomatoes and whatever. This process gives you a complete meal within 20 minutes.



Easy mashed potatoes


Serving black eyed peas with pickle relish, diced sweet onions, and mashed potatoes (and soya sauce too - makes a great combo!).










For large groups








Black Eyed Peas Stew using a slow-cooker Recipe printout is way below. Scroll down.
Your time making this dish: 30 minutes.
Slow cooker will work during the night or during the day when you’re at work.
Cost is less than US $3.00 for four people.



Ingredients


2 cups dried black eyed peas
8 cups tap water
1 large onion, diced
2 red chilies (call out “2 red sharks” when serving your guests)
Oil, saltAccompaniments: Large sweet onion chopped, sweet relish, soy sauce.

Step 1 takes 10 minutes

At night before bed or in the morning before going to work, put 2 cups dried black eyed peas into slow-cooker with 8 cups tap water.

DO NOT put anything else in the slow-cooker.

Let it cook on high for about five hours or more.

(If you put anything other than water to cook the beans, they will not get mushy – no matter how long you cook them. Cooking beans with anything other than water will leave the beans hard as rocks.)


Cook beans in water alone
The trick to cooking all legumes is to cook them ALONE in tap water until they are fully cooked.

Cooking them with salt or any other ingredient will cause the skins to tighten and it will not let the water get inside the beans and cook.

The legume will stay hard as rock no matter how long you cook them.


Saturday 9.20 pm
Here I show that I’m starting the slow-cooker in the evening and I’ll finish the dish in the morning.

I happen to be making two other meals at the same time.


Step 2 takes 15 minutes
In a frying pan with about 3 tbs oil, fry up the diced onion, salt, diced ginger, red chilies until brown.

Add 14 oz diced OR crushed tomato and let it simmer until tomato seems to be cooked (about 3 minutes).

Use any ingredients you like into this fried mix.

Set fried items aside until kidney beans are done in 12 hours. You can put the frying pan in the frig after it has cooled down.


Do frying at night or in morning
You can fry up the onions and other ingredients when you’ve put the peas in the slow-cooker to start cooking. Then put the cooled fry pan into the frig overnight, if you like.

You can also fry up the onions, etc., in the morning when the peas have been cooking all night.

It makes no difference when you fry the onions and other ingredients.


Sunday 7.35 am

Kidney beans have been cooking all night. They’re done.

Add the tomato, onion medley to the cooked beans.

Heat the concoction and adjust salt and other seasonings now.

Add coriander if you have it. (Most of the time, I don’t have fresh coriander to put on top. I serve it without the coriander.)

Be sure to call out: “Two red sharks” when serving this meal. So people will know that there are chilies in the dish to be avoided.

Step 3 takes 15 minutes
Once beans are mushy enough for your taste, stir them into the fry pan until the proportion of beans to tomato medley is right for you.

Put remaining cooked beans into small bags and freeze.

To thicken the stew, smash some beans and their starch will thicken the meal. Continue to cook until it’s thick enough.

Add coriander if you like. Serve with rice, potatoes, or grains.

Thanks for watching!

Use this same method for cooking different types of legumes when using a slow-cooker.


Please send your feedback and pictures. I’ll post them on the Vegan Recipe Exchange tab of www.VeganCookingLessons.Org

Call out the number of red or green sharks you’ve used in every meal so your guests will know how many chilies to look for and avoid!

Boe@VeganCookingLessons.Org