HOPPIN' JOHN RECIPE

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Listen hopping john recipe hoppin john ingredients hopping john instructions.

Hoppin' John, also known as Carolina Peas and Rice is a peas and rice dish served in the Southern United States. It is made with black-eyed peas (or red cowpeas such as iron and clay peas in the Southeast US) and rice, chopped onion, sliced bacon, and seasoned with salt. In some recipes, instead of bacon, ham hock, fatback, or country sausage, or smoked turkey parts are used. A few use green peppers or vinegar and spices. Smaller than black-eyed peas, field peas are used in the Low Country of South Carolina and Georgia; black-eyed peas are the norm elsewhere.

In the southern United States, 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 and similar leafy green vegetables served along with this dish are supposed to further add to the wealth, since they are the color of American currency. 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.

Ingredients

1 bag (1 lb) dried black-eyed peas, soaked overnight and rinsed

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 smoked ham hock or 1 cup chopped smoked ham

1 carton (32 oz) Progresso™ chicken broth (4 cups)

1 can (10 to 14.5 oz) diced tomatoes with green chiles, undrained

1 dried bay leaf

Salt to taste

6 cups hot cooked white rice

Steps

Sort and rinse peas. Soak peas in enough water to cover at least 8 hours or overnight.

Drain and rinse soaked peas; set aside. In 4- to 6-quart Dutch oven, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and celery; sauté about 5 minutes or until onion is translucent. Add garlic; sauté about 2 minutes or until fragrant.

Add ham hock, broth, tomatoes and bay leaf. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat to simmer; stir in soaked peas. Add salt to taste. Cook 50 to 60 minutes or until peas are tender.

Remove and discard bay leaf. Remove ham hock. Remove ham from bone; discard bone. Shred ham; return to Dutch oven and stir. Serve over hot cooked rice.