Black-Eyed Peas and Cornmeal Dumplings

This is our favorite New Year's Day recipe....however I do add a good sized ham hock and cook for about an hour or two before adding the peas so the meat falls off the bone, if not then remove the hock and remove the meat, put meat back into peas before adding dumplings....makes a good winter dish.

I make these a few times every winter and have come to realize what takes it from meh to amazing is not taking short cuts. Use good bacon, cook your beans from scratch and season it well and this dish is really really great. As other reviewers have mentioned, yes the liquid does get soaked up pretty quickly, but if you just add a slash of broth when you reheat the leftovers it fixes everything right up.

Didn't stir the dumplings but did stir in a chiffonade of greens (ant 1 1/2 c.) just before adding dumplings. Absolutely delicious and definitely not bland. The simplicity allowed the full flavor of my Florida zipper peas to shine through.

AMAZING. Made no changes, except I doubled the bacon because I had thin slices, and I used powdered buttermilk substitute for the buttermilk. I needed all four srips to get to 1 T. of drippings. Was concerned that not adding salt to the dumplings would make them bland, but they were plenty salty and flavorful with the bacon added. Hot sauce -- we used Cholulua -- was a nice addition. Run, do not walk, to try this.

Very tasty, especially the dumplings! I served the suggested collard greens right in the bowl with the peas and dumplings. Perfect healthy meal. I did not stir the dumplings once I dropped them into the broth. Will be making again.

This was yummy! My husband raved as he filled a second bowlful. I added the bacon to the bean, used whole wheat pastry flour for half of the flour, and did not stir the dumplings. Served with steamed spinach.

My family loved this. I'm not sure if I let it simmer too long with the dumplings or if I had the heat too high, but a lot of the liquid evaporated and it was a little dry. I added more stock to the leftovers.

I had never eaten black eyed peas before but I found this to be bland. Billie is right about the delicate dumplings. I stirred them ever so gently; despite that, they quickly became incorporated into the BEPs. The next morning, I noticed that the liquid had been soaked up while in the fridge. I hate wasting food and could not convince my family to eat them again, so I ended up adding some spices to what was left and formed them into BEP patties, which turned out to be very yummy!

I thought this was really, really good. My only mistake is that I thought they wouldn't need the amount of liquid that the recipe called for - so I didn't add all of the water. In the end, they weren't as brothy as I would've liked, but still delicious. My husband was less of a fan of the dumplings - he is a traditional cornbread guy.

This was really good! I made it for New Year's Day as a lucky southern tradition that my father passed along to me. I did double the bacon (4 slices) and added the extra crumbled into the beans. It says to "stir the dumplings occasionally" but they are fragile and I just let them cook for 8 minutes and then just turned the heat off and let them sit for 10-15 minutes to cool, with the cover still on. Totally delish!

Wow was that good. I thought it needed a little salt and pepper, but otherwise was absolutely delicious.