Waakye
Black-eyed peas and rice from Michael Twitty's Rice cookbook
Ingredients
- 1 cup black-eyed peas dried
- 3 cups vegetable stock (low-sodium) see my Notes below
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
- 1/2 cup onions yellow, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 cup white rice long-grain, such as Carolina Gold, rinsed and drained 6 times
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
Instructions
- Pick through the dried peas, removing any stones, twigs, or unhappy-looking beans. Soak in filtered water overnight, adding more to the bowl if the beans absorb it all. Rinse and drain well.
- Put the beans in a large pot with a tight-fitting lid, add the vegetable stock, and place over high heat. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down to low and simmer, uncovered, for 30-40 minutes.
- After the black-eyed peas are tender, heat the coconut oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic and sauté until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes, stirring as needed.
- Add the onion mixture to the large pot with the remaining ingredients, stirring well.
- Return the pot to a boil, then turn down to a low simmer and cook, covered, until the rice and beans are tender, about 30 minutes. See my Notes below.
Notes
Recipe from Rice: A Savor the South Cookbook by Michael W. Twitty, © 2021 The University of North Carolina Press. Used with permission. Make sure your vegetable stock is very clear, not thick with vegetable sediment, as that can hamper the rice absorbing it. I would pre-soak the rice for 30 minutes while the beans are cooking, as mine did not cook and I ended up having to add nearly 2 cups of hot stock to the pot and the rice was still a little crunchy in spots. Michael notes that traditional waakye is stained deep red from the millet stalks. If you wish to achieve this, you can soak a cup of dried hibiscus flowers (also called Jamaican sorrel) in hot filtered water and use that as some of your stock.