Sautee the chopped ham on medium to high heat adding onion, ginger, pimento, garlic.

Combine and let that cook for one minute.

Add tomato, pumpkin and back eyed peas and sautee for another 3 minutes.

Add four cups of water, bay leaf and the ham bone. The peas are going to take about 90 minutes to cook so in that time, the bone is going to impart amazing flavour to the broth.

Cover and let it simmer on medium to low heat for 1 hour.

After an hour, taste for seasoning then add salt and black pepper and allow it to cook for another 20 minutes. At this point you want to keep an eye on it because we’re aiming for most of the liquid to be absorbed by the peas. This is when you know they will be cooked tender but if you leave it too long it could easily start to burn so don’t go watching Netflix and forgetting about the soup.

Remove the bone and check to make sure the peas are fork tender, mash some of them but not all, you want some whole peas in there for texture but the starch from the mashed peas will thicken the soup.

Add two cups of hot water and simmer for 5 minutes.