This recipe is (vegan) comfort food at its best. I like to serve this dish on New Year’s Day. According to tradition in the southern U.S., black-eyed peas and greens bring good luck and prosperity for the new year. The black-eyed peas represent coins, and the collard greens symbolize paper money. If you don’t have collards, you can use spinach, Swiss chard, kale or any other cookable, leafy green.

It’s not completely necessary, but if you soak your peas ahead of time for at least three hours or as long as overnight, it will expedite the cooking process.

Serve the peas over brown rice, quinoa or mashed sweet potatoes.

Servings: 4 - 6

Ready in: 75 Minutes

Ingredients

1 cup dried black-eyed peas, soaked

2 cups vegetable stock

1 medium yellow onion, peeled and chopped into wedges

1 red bell pepper, sliced into strips

1 garlic clove, smashed

1 bay leaf

4 cups chopped fresh collard greens

½ cup unsweetened non-dairy milk

2 tablespoons dry English mustard powder, such as Coleman’s

½ cup + 2 T nutritional yeast *

½ teaspoon sea salt – you may need more or less depending on whether or not your vegetable stock is salted

Freshly ground black pepper

Dash or two of hot red pepper sauce (optional – but I think it needs two!)

Cooked rice, quinoa, other whole grain or mashed sweet potatoes for serving

Instructions

Drain and rinse (soaked) peas.
Put peas in medium pot. Add stock, onion wedges and bay leaf.
Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer partially covered until the peas are tender. This will take about 30 minutes, more if you haven’t soaked your peas. If the pot gets dry, add additional stock or water as needed. You want the peas to be soupy.
While peas are cooking, preheat oven to 400° and prepare other ingredients.
In a medium bowl combine milk, mustard powder and 1/2 cup nutritional yeast. Mix well.
Oil a medium (approximately 2 quart) casserole dish and set aside.
When peas are cooked do not drain, but remove from heat and cool slightly. Remove bay leaf and stir in collards.
Stir milk mixture into pot with peas and collards.
Season to taste with salt, pepper and hot red pepper sauce.
Pour entire mixture into prepared casserole dish. Sprinkle with additional 2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast.
Bake in preheated oven 30 minutes or until browned and bubbly. You can broil the last couple of minutes to brown the top.

* Nutritional yeast is a common ingredient in vegetarian cooking and can be found in most natural food stores. It is often used as a plant-based substitute, and is and rich in B-complex vitamins.