New Year’s Party Dip Recipe with a Hint of Texas Heat

Did you get invited to a New Year’s Party and don’t know what to bring?  Well, if you did – good for you!  But now, you have to figure it out.  You want to bring something everyone will love – but something easy.  After all, you still have to get all dressed up and don’t need to be spending all your time in the kitchen.  Well, we have the answer for you: Texas by Texans’ New Year’s Party Dip Recipe!

Black-Eyed Pea and Corn Relish Delight Party Dip

This recipe is a bit like “Texas Caviar” but with an extra twist – the Hot n Spicy Corn Relish.

If you don’t know, Texas Caviar is pretty much like Pico de Gallo, except with black-eyed peas marinating with the tomatoes, onions, and chile’s (that’s chile not chili).  It is terrific – and great to eat with chips, as long as they are hearty tortilla chips.  It might go good on crackers – but what fun would that be?

Our Texas by Texans favorite recipe has two great things going for it – the Texas Caviar bit…and the fact that it is made with black-eyed peas.  If you are from Texas (and maybe even if you aren’t) you know that you MUST eat black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day.  We’ll get to the why’s in a minute but here is the recipe and it’s easy “peasy” (see how we did that – sometimes we amuse ourselves).

• 2 Cans Black-Eyed Peas
• 1 Jar (16 oz) Hot n Spicy Corn Relish
• 1 Large Fresh Tomato
• ½ Small Onion
• Cilantro
• Salt & Pepper to taste

Instructions to Make the Party Dip:

1. Open, drain and rinse black-eyed peas
2. Dice tomato and onion
3. Pour black-eyed peas, tomato and onion into a bowl with the whole jar of Hot n Spicy Corn Relish
4. Mix in bowl and marinate in refrigerator
5. Top with a bit of chopped Cilantro

You can do it in the afternoon before you go – or you can even fix it the night before.  For the extra special look – add a few sprigs of fresh cilantro to the top.  Make sure you have some hearty, authentic tortilla chips to bring along.

The great thing about this Texas specialty is that it is easy, easier than easy – but the best part is that you can get those black-eyed peas in without even knowing it….as long as you eat it after midnight on New Year’s Eve.

Now that we’ve made the easy-peasy dip with hardly any effort at all, here is the rest of the Black-Eyed Pea story.

If you grew up in Texas – you know that you have to eat black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day.  Most of us think it is for luck but there is a lot more to the story.  It came from Europe and it is a lot different than just a few peas.

In the South, You Eat:

• Black-eyed peas (for luck and fortune because the Northern soldiers thought they were just food for the livestock….well, never mind, but the black-eyed peas were left to provide sustenance…hence fortune). They also represent coins because some bright person thought they should hide a dime in the bottom of the bean pot….don’t do that.
• Collard greens are supposed to represent paper money. Much better than the dime at the bottom of the black-eyed pea pot.  Turnip greens, mustard greens or even cabbage will do but the bonus is that greens grow well in winter…
• Cornbread serves as gold. Notice everything here is about money?
• Pork for progress (pigs can’t look backward) or some say prosperity (here we go with the money again) since a pig was enough meat to feed a family for a long time – and if you had one to spare for the New Year, you must be doing pretty well.

So there you have it – Southern traditions for New Year’s – and a new one to boot. Looking for other dipping recipes?–Check out our Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce Recipe!

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