So far I’ve entered plated dishes, an ode to juice, and lots of looking back. And, as I’m going home in a few weeks and already applied for an internship in Brasil, I thought, “Why not write an entry with some forward thinking.”
Looking back at it now, the last entry, being of the Hors d’Ouevre genre, served as a precursor to this forward writing and is testament to my trust in the power of hindsight. Oh hindsight, the fuel for this blog, of course, but further manifests itself as an impetus to do new stuff – in the words of the hilarious Katt Williams “to keep it pushin’!”
And, in that spirit, I looked at Kidney Beans… oops! I mean Red Peas.
The following ingredients are usually combined to make three (3) dishes:
¾ c red peas (kidney beans for non-Caribbean citizens)
2 sprigs of thyme
1 tsp Allspice
2 pinches of S&P (not the stock index)
Traditionally, we use Red Peas in the soup, stew with pigtail, and as the staple portion of a plate as Rice & Peas. Well, this week, I was on a hummus kick. I went into work on Monday and made Black Bean Hummus, which served for lunch again on Tuesday. Wednesday, my co-worker got the aching for garlic and herb Hummus – and off I went to combine chick peas, dill, thyme, garlic, lime juice, S&P, ginger, cayenne and olive oil.
My first encounter with Hummus was sophomore year – I’m sorry, I couldn’t avoid the college influence. Darn it! Anyway, the vegetarian co-op wrote countless comment cards to engender the addition of Red Pepper Hummus to the salad bar. I had yet to give spices and herbs the respect they soooo deserve, and could not grasp any probability of puréed chick peas being tasty. The only explanation I was given for trying it was the health benefits –fine…gosh…uuuugghh! I refuse to care for healthy food that doesn’t taste good. And here, is where we get to this week’s Hummus kick!
So with eating Hummus for 4 days straight (we have some of the packaged to-go cups at the house, but I’m a sucker for making it fresh), I decided to end the work week the way it started Peas-fully. Feel free to comment if you didn’t find that as chuckle-worthy as I did. So on the Thursday night I boiled some red peas in coconut milk and put in a Ziploc with the traditional 3-dish accompaniments, along with green pepper, cooking wine, other spices, garlic, olive oil, and, dig this, honey – Don’t screw up yuh face, try it!
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| Red Pea Hummus |
Full list of Ingredients:
1 c red peas (kidney beans for non-Caribbeans)
2 sprigs of thyme
1 tsp Allspice
2 pinches of S&P (not the stock index)
4 cloves roasted garlic
¼ green pepper – julienned
Ginger, cumin, cayenne, paprika – 1 dash each
3 caps-ful of Marsala or any sweet cooking wine1
1 tsp olive/canola oil2
1 tsp of honey3
Process:
Throw the peas and spices in a blender or food processor and purée. Add the liquids in the order on the ingredients list.
Cut your Roti, or pita bread, into triangles and cover your plate with them.
Spoon hummus into centre.
Dice ½ a Roma tomato and fried plantain and sprinkle over hummus and Roti.
Garnish with thyme leaves!
Plain triscuits, sun chips or toast serve as crunchy substitute. Also, you can switch your dippers to sliced (or baby) carrots, cucumber ovals, as well as with crackers and corn salsa – options in abundance. As you can see this has now incorporated the beloved red peas in snack form to go with lunch and dinner.
Go ahead; give yourself a break from Rice & Red Peas, or Rice & Black Beans, like I did. Enjoy the amazingness!
Eat well til lata,
Gillian M.
P.S.1 I had ¼ cup of boiled peas and fried plantain left over so threw them in a bowl with diced tomatoes, chopped scallion, diced green pepper, marsala wine, allspice, and s&p to make a Red Pea salsa. I brought into work for lunch the next day: Bangin’! Had it with some bread – simple stuff.
P.S.2 Tam Tam is a really good friend of mine; She been asking for a party dish for a while now. “Ee! Seet deh!” Much love dear.
Going to cook this..
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