Grand­par­ents and their grand­par­ents bond over spe­cial tra­di­tions like shelling peas. Sit­ting in front of your tele­vi­sion, slow­ly sep­a­rat­ing the peas from its out­er cas­ing to earn these de­li­cious peas, packed with pro­tein and used many of lo­cal dish­es. These sought-af­ter veg­eta­bles are most pop­u­lar be­tween De­cem­ber to Feb­ru­ary, avail­able at your mar­ket and high­way pro­duce ven­dors. Take ad­van­tage of the sea­son for pi­geon peas and try out this tra­di­tion­al recipe for stewed pi­geon peas to com­plete your Sun­day lunch of rice, stew chick­en, mac­a­roni pie & fresh sal­ad.

Stewed Pi­geon Peas

Serves: 6-8 peo­ple

Cook time: 30 min­utes

Elizabeth Bissessar

3 lbs. shelled peas

1 cup of co­conut milk

1 lbs pureed pump­kin

3 ta­ble­spoons oil

2 ta­ble­spoons brown sug­ar

2 tea­spoon salt

Fresh­ly chopped sea­son­ings:

1 stalk chive

1 sprig cel­ery

1 sprig pars­ley

3 pimien­tos

1/2 onion

3 cloves gar­lic

2 sprigs fresh thyme

Method:

Place shelled peas in 4 cups boil­ing wa­ter.

Boil for 10-15 min­utes.

Strain peas and set aside the wa­ter the peas were pre­vi­ous­ly boiled in.

Heat a medi­um-sized pot and add oil and then add brown sug­ar.

When the sug­ar turns gold­en brown and bub­bles, add peas and saute for 2-3 min­utes.

Add wa­ter that was set aside, co­conut milk, pureed pump­kin and bring to a boil.

Then add fresh­ly chopped sea­son­ings and salt to taste.

Stir well and bring to a boil and once boil­ing re­duces to a sim­mer and let sim­mer for 10 min­utes un­til peas are ten­der or to de­sired con­sis­ten­cy.

Serve with rice, stew chick­en, mac­a­roni pie & fresh sal­ad. Bon Ap­petit.