Black Eyed Peas with Mint- or how to use all that mint in your garden

Everyone who gardens says to plant mint in a pot otherwise it will take over your garden! This might be true. But I wonder if it is because people who are planting it aren't harvesting their mint frequently enough? Whatever the case, we have been enjoying the reproductive genius of mint!

Here is a recipe that we had for dinner last night! On a scale of 1-10 it was a 7. But if we consider that it is bean based- I would give it a 9 or 10- these flavors worked so well and it was beans!

Black Eyed Peas with Apples, Cocount and Mint

Other beans you can use soaked and precooked Pigeon Peas, or Chickpeas or Mung Bean Dal which doesn't need precooked.

1 1/2 Cups Beans

1/2 Shredded Coconut

2 Medium Green apples peeled cored and chopped

2 Tablespoons peeled and minced ginger

2 T minced garlic

Pinch of ground tumeric

2 C coconut milk- but I just added 2 cans

1/4 C Sugar

salt and pepper to tast

1/2 C chopped fresh mint leaves

1/2 C sliced scallion

Juice of 1 lime

Cmobine the beans, coconut, apples, ginger, garlic, turmeric, coconut milk, and brown sugar in a large pot. Add enough water to cover. Bring to a boil over high heat, then turn the head down to meadium low so the miture bubbles steadily but not violently. Cook, stirring occasionally ad adding some salt as the beans become tender until the beans are quite soft, 45-60 minutes, adding water or coconut milk as needed to keep everything moist.

When beans are tender and the liquit is thickened, sprinkle with pepper and stir in the mint, scallion, and lime juice, cook for a minute or tow more, then taste, adjust the seasoning and serve.

Because I added the coconut milk it was much more creamy and soupy so it would have been even better with some rice underneath!

From: Bittman, Mark, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian: Simple Meatless Recipes for Great Food. (John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Double B. Publishing 207.) 602.