Hoppin John Recipe - New Year's Black-eyed Peas and Rice Dish

Hoppin John - Black-eyed Peas, Rice, Sausage, & Tomatoes

Below is a standard pork dish for New Year’s in the south, and some variations for year-round use.  This dish is typically served on New Year’s Day since black-eyed peas are supposed to bring good luck for the current year.  If you are not a lover of plain black-eyed peas, this is one way to bring more flavors to these vegetables as a side dish for the holiday.  Or you can make it a one-dish meal if you and your family really like black-eyed peas.  You can use my easy recipe below or check the side of the black-eyed pea can, since many brands include this recipe there showing the addition of celery or peppers.

Ingredients: 

2 cups cooked rice*
1 lb. roll sage pork sausage – cook until brown and crumble*
¼ cup chopped onion – sautéed
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 Tablespoon parsley flakes
2 (15 oz.) cans black-eyes peas – rinsed and drained
1 can (14.5 oz.) diced tomatoes with juices

Instructions: 

1. Cook sausage in large pan and add onions for sautéing when meat mostly brown.  Drain off fat. 
2. Add remaining ingredients and cook on low until everything is warm. 

*Notes: 

• Start rice first as it takes longer to cook and can be boiling while browning meat.  I cook my rice in chicken broth instead of water so it comes out with a buttery taste without having to add butter – otherwise the southern recipe calls for 2 Tablespoons of butter.
• You can use any flavor of rolled sausage you want, my recipe calls for sage but you can use whatever you like best. 
• You may use Kielbasa-type sausage instead of frying a roll.  Just cut it into thin slices (looks nicer) or peel it and dice it into smaller chunks (seem to get more meat per serving) depending on your personal preference.
• Instead of sausage, you can use 2 cups of ham cut into small cubes.  If you have ham for Christmas, merely cut up and freeze your two cups from the leftovers.  Then move the ham from your freezer to your refrigerator before leaving for New Year’s Eve party.  Then add in the ham when sautéing onions to finish thawing for the dish.

Variations:

• If you don’t like dry rice, you can make the dish moister by adding one (10.5 oz.) can of condensed French onion soup to give the impression of a sauce or gravy within the dish.
• If you are making this as a side dish to go with another meat, then you can leave out the sausage or ham.  Instead brown and crumble 2 slices of bacon (or use purchased real bacon bits) to add flavoring and keep the tradition of pork in the dish.
• You can make the above recipe into a soup by adding an extra can of diced tomatoes and one (14.5 oz.) can of chicken broth.
• I have seen soup recipes where they make this with dried black-eyed peas, rice, and ham hock cooked together in double the amount of chicken broth needed instead of using water.  When the peas and rice are done, the ham hock is removed from the bone and the meat put back into the pea soup along with other vegetables and seasonings.