Spicy Nigerian Black Eyed Peas

On Saturday, The Boyfriend and I went out for lunch at Suya Joint , a lovely little restaurant in Roslindale Village.  We stumbled across this restaurant a couple months ago and put it on our To Do list of places to try in and around Boston.   I will do a full restaurant review in the next week or so, but I will tell you that we loved our food.  We also really enjoyed the staff.  The Chef came out to speak with us and everyone was so friendly! When people put their heart and soul into food, you can tell and it makes all of the difference when someone loves what they are doing.  The menu is definitely centered around meat, but they say at the bottom that they cater to vegetarians as well, so I asked my server to recommend something.  I had the Beans and Fried Plantains.  I asked for it extra spicy, but of course, I needed more heat, so they brought out their amazing Spice Mix for me to sprinkle on my food.  Are you seeing a theme here yet?  We had a lot of fun trying to discern the spices again and of course, my mind was wanting to re-create the mixture.  I think I FINALLY might have figured out that they use Birds of Paradise in their mixtures... which gives it such an astringent and citrus flavor. I have been using Amchoor (dried green mango powder) in my spice mixture.  Anyway.. I digress...  here is a picture of my delicious lunch from Suya Joint!

So, I woke up the next morning with a recipe in my head to re-create the flavors.  I like writing down the recipe the way I think it will work, then following it exactly the first time.. then tweak it I'm happy to say that my recipe produced almost the exact results I had intended; the only issue is that the stew IS SPICY.. most likely too spicy for most people to enjoy... oh and it uses 2 of our Spice Mixtures and one Hot Sauce I've made, so I realize this isn't a very accessible recipe for most of you.. BUT I am going to revamp it for the average kitchen user the next time I make it. 

Nigerian Spicy Black Eyed Peas

• 1 cup dried black eyed peas, picked over and rinsed
• 2 tablespoons neutral oil
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 8 cloves minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons chopped ginger
• ½ teaspoon Tony’s Creole Seasoning or Salt
• 1 tablespoon The Boyfriend’s Spice Mix
• 2 tablespoons Melody’s Spice Mix
• ¼ teaspoon allspice
• 2 medium size tomatoes, chopped finely
• 1 red bell pepper
• 2 cups water
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 tablespoons Habanero/Peach Sauce
• 2 tablespoons chopped basil (Thai basil if you can get it)
• Salt/Pepper to taste

Method:

1. Heat oil, garlic spices, onion with a pinch of salt. Sauté for a couple minutes then add the tomatoes, and pepper.
2. Cook over medium heat until everything is broken down into a fragrant paste.
3. Add the water and bay leaf. Cover and bring to high pressure for 4 minutes. Let pressure come down naturally.  If the beans aren’t fully cooked, cook on the stove top, adding more water if needed. 
4. Stir in the Habanero Sauce and Basil. Taste and adjust seasoning.

Like I said, I realize this recipe relies on having 3 of my spice mixtures/sauces on hand and will be too spicy for most of you...   :-)  I will post a more accessible recipe soon, I promise!  I served this with Peanutty Collards and Cornbread.  I made my cornbread with barley flour and bean milk. I left out the spices and extracts in the bean milk and used my Gluten Free Cornbread recipe, but with barley flour instead of the Gluten Free Flour.

I will post the Collard recipe and full Cornbread recipe soon.