Lentils

RJM62

RJM62

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Geek on the Hill
The one superstition I allow myself every year is that I eat lentils at the stroke of the New Year, in accordance with the old Italian Feast of San Silvestro. For all of New Year's Eve, I have Lentils at the ready. If I have to go out somewhere, I bring a can with me, just in case I should get stranded.

The lentils are supposed to symbolize money and good fortune for the upcoming year. I don't know how effective they've been: Times have been tough for the past few years. But I guess money and good fortune are relative things. I know a lot of better people than myself who are a lot worse off than I am.

Anyone else care to confess / admit to some New Year's rituals or suspicions?

-Rich
 
I only learned of the black eyed peas new year tradition after I moved from NY to DC.

Regarding lentils, I made rice cooker biryani the other week and was impressed with the low cost, ease of prep, and quality of the results.
 
We call them cow peas, because that's what you feed to the cows.
 
My gf is Indian and Daal (lentils) are used in much of their cuisine. I like them myself.
 
RJM62 said:
The one superstition I allow myself every year is that I eat lentils at the stroke of the New Year, in accordance with the old Italian Feast of San Silvestro. For all of New Year's Eve, I have Lentils at the ready. If I have to go out somewhere, I bring a can with me, just in case I should get stranded.

The lentils are supposed to symbolize money and good fortune for the upcoming year. I don't know how effective they've been: Times have been tough for the past few years. But I guess money and good fortune are relative things. I know a lot of better people than myself who are a lot worse off than I am.

Anyone else care to confess / admit to some New Year's rituals or suspicions?

-Rich
Click to expand...

From Mississippi, we do black eyed peas and hog jowl for the same reasons.
 
Even our pets eat black eyed peas on New Years for luck. The cats would rather we had a raw liver tradition, but they take their pea down the throat pretty well. Dogs, well, they would eat a bowl of peas with ham if we let them.
 
lentils.jpg


Lentils.

-Rich
 
Cut a few cucumbers into bit sized pieces, and do the same with some tomatos. Drizzle liberally with some lemon juice, cover and refrigerate.

Saute lentils in a skillet with olive oil until lightly browned. Add 2 cups rice (I use Uncle Ben's) and 4 1/2 cups water. Bring to boil, cover and simmer.

Serve with the chilled cukes and tomatos on top!
 
Lentils sound like a good thing to sprinkle over bacon.
 
We always had lentils in our New Years soup before dinner.

My brothers inlaws do navy beans.
 
looks good. I made some black beans and rice e/ italian sausage the other day. The problem is that they haven't stopped swelling yet.
 
For us, it's Black-Eyed Peas and Ham Hock every year.

My wife was in a panic when we crossed from 1999 to 2000 in Australia - black-eyed peas are not too common there, and Australian Customs confiscated our bag of dried peas (really?!).

Fortunately found some, bulk, at the big market (a farmers' market of sorts) in Adelaide. Black-eyed peas were eaten (along with kangaroo steaks!), and all was well.
 
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