Vegetarian Hoppin' Johns

Alright for those who are not from the South(I'm not, but I read enough articles to know some Southern recipes) Hoppin' Johns is a dish typically served on New Years. The black eyed peas in Hoppin' Johns represent good luck and Hoppin' Johns are typically served on rice with collard greens and ham. Well, since I don't eat ham and I don't have collard greens currently in the kitchen I decided to make a vegetarian version of the dish. That and I had all the ingredients. So there.

Here is how you make vegetarian Hoppin' Johns....

You'll need:

*1.25 cups of black eyed peas, dried. (if you're in a jam, just use 1.25 cups of canned organic black eyed peas--you'll be fine)

*4 cups of water
*1.5 cups of chopped onion
*1 clove garlic (fuck that I put in 3)
*1 bay leaf
*1/2 tsp of fresh ground black pepper
*1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper
*8 oz. tempeh
*1 tbsp of soy sauce

Soak the peas overnight. Or boil them for 2 minutes, cover and let them stand for 1 hour.

Drain the beans, set this off to the side.

Start up the brown rice.

In a heated medium sized sauce pan put in a little bit of olive oil. Put in your onion and garlic and let that heat up until the onions are translucent. Put in the beans (if you're doing canned beans just toss them in there with the juice) and toss in the water. Add bay leaf, cayenne and black pepper. Get this to a boil, cover and reduce the heat and cook for 1 hour. Stir when you feel like it.

Get your tempeh and brush on the soy sauce on both sides. I actually thought this wasn't enough so I winded up using about 3 tablespoons of soy sauce. Chop the tempeh up in bite sized pieces and toss that into the bean pot. Cook for another hour, covered. Stir more frequently as you're going to loss some of that water and burning the beans is more likely. Remove bay leaf and add salt, if that's your thing.

Serve with rice and lots of vegetables and you're good to go!


Overall I would definitely make this again. Easy to make but the only draw-back is the time....if you're super hungry you'll be eating your hand by the time this is done! It could have used more spices--I think next time I may add some oregano and/or thyme...