Black eye peas is said to bring you good luck and great fortune for the New Year. Traditionally around this time of the year you would see everyone making a dish with the peas. Some make a cook-up with rice and the peas or some just stew the peas and enjoy on its own. This dish brings a lot of great memoirs back to me as I learnt this dish when I visited Brazil. It is stemmed from West Africa and has many variations to it. In Trinidad we make our variation called Acara made from salt fish. Here I made this dish by taking our local seasonings and blending the peas to make it a tasty fritter. Though it is a lot of work and patience this dish is truly amazing. I hope you give it a try. Enjoy!

Ingredients

1 pack Cuisine Black Eyed Peas
1 Chadon Beni leaf
1 Chive leaf
1 Celery stalk
3 Garlic cloves
1 Medium Onion
3 Pimento peppers
2 tsp Baking soda
3 cups Cuisine Soya Bean Oil
Salt (to taste)
Black Pepper (to taste)

Method

• Place the peas in a bowl and cover with water twice the amount of the peas and set aside. Note: (The longer the peas are soaking the easier it will be for the skins to come off. I recommend soaking them for two days but continuously changing the water and storing in a cool place. If you do not have all that time soak it at the start of your day and after a few hours you can begin to take off the skins yourself.
• Using both of your hand rub the peas to take off the skins.
• Cut up all the seasons into fine pieces.
• In a processor blend the peas with a little water until a paste forms. Note: (Please see video for texture)
• Place the mixture in a bowl and add the salt, black pepper, baking soda and all the seasonings. Mix well
• Heat a pot of oil on medium and using an ice cream scoop or a spoon take out the mixture and add to the hot oil.
• Leave for 3-5 minutes flipping over on each side until golden brown.
• Serve hot and enjoy.