Creamy Black-Eyed Pea + Kale Soup

Fast Facts

• Black-eyed peas were used on slave ships to cheaply feed kidnapped Africans on the months-long journey to the Americas.
• Enslaved African people used their expertise in farming and expertly cooking black eyed peas to survive.
• Black eyed peas for New Years' luck? Africa again.
• Lacinato Kale is popular among gardeners because of its colour and texture. Among the plants Thomas Jefferson recorded in his 1777 garden at Monticello.

What We Need

• 2 cups dry black-eyed peas (iron + fiber + folic acid + heart healthy)
• 6 cups vegetable stock or water
• 2 cups packed chopped kale (de-stemmed) (antioxidants, vitamin C, vitamin K, and beta-carotene)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil (healing fat + protects against heart disease)
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced (anti-microbial food +anti-inflammatory)
• I cup carrots, diced (beta-carotene)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced (helps prevent flu, colds + heart healthy)
• 1 sprig fresh thyme, minced (antioxidants + anti-inflammatory compounds)
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (vitamin C)
• 1 teaspoon QUEEN NANNY'S MACHETE JERK SEASONING
• HAWAIIAN BLACK LAVA SALT (electrolytes + minerals)
• CALABASH GROUND CAYENNE (provitamin A and vitamin C)

This Is How We Do It

1. Wash and rinse the beans well under running water. Put InstantPot on sauté mode. When it displays HOT, add oil. Add the onions, garlic, and carrots to the pot and stir. Sprinkle some salt. Sauté the vegetables until lightly softened and translucent, about 5 minutes.
2. To the pot, add kale, QUEEN NANNY'S MACHETE JERK SEASONING, and thyme. Stir and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the washed black eyed peas and stir. Add the vegetable stock or water to the pot and stir once more. Cancel sauté mode. Close the lid. Select BEAN mode and let Insta-Pot do it’s magic.
3. Once it is done cooking and goes to keep warm timer, wait for 10 mins on keep warm timer and then release the leftover pressure. Open the lid.
4. Ladle ¼ of the soup into an upright blender. Let it cool down before you blend. Add some of the lemon juice to the blender as well. Carefully blend ¼ portion of the soup into smooth puree. Pour the blend back into the pot. Season the soup with HAWAIIAN BLACK LAVA SALT and CALABASH GROUND CAYENNE.