Sous Chef Stephanie Guzman champions the cuisine of her family’s heritage at every chance she gets. Stephanie shares her adapted recipe for pigeon peas with coconut, a farm favorite whenever she makes it.
Ingredients:
2 C dry pigeon peas, boiled until very soft
plus 3 C of the liquid from the peas, reserved
2 T vegetable oil
1 small onion, cut into quarters
2 cloves garlic
2 yellow lantern peppers
2 C unsweetened coconut milk
2 C auyama (West Indies Pumpkin)
4 sprigs thyme
3 sprigs cilantro minced
salt, to taste
Method:
Separate the pigeon peas from their boiling water, reserve.
In a pot, heat the oil over low heat. Add onions and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the oregano, garlic, yellow lantern and peppers and thyme and cook one to two minutes.
Add pigeon peas to the pan and mash up. Add coconut milk and 3 cups of the liquid reserved from the pigeon peas. Then add the pumpkin and boil over medium heat until the pumpkin is cooked through and peas are creamy, adding more water to not let the peas get dry. Add the cilantro and season to taste with salt and oregano.
Serve with white rice, and adobo marinated chicken, salad or fish!
Recipe adapted from Dominican Cooking.com