Grey peas with speck

Ingredients

• Grey peas — soaked overnight500 g
• Smoked pork belly — diced300 g
• Onion3
• Kefir — to serve300 ml
• Black pepper1 tsp
• Saltto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Soak the peas twelve hours in cold water, changing it once.

   10 min

2. 2

   Drain, cover with fresh water two fingers above and boil unsalted for an hour and twenty minutes, until soft.

   85 min

3. 3

   Dice the pork belly and render it in a dry pan to golden crackling.

   12 min

4. 4

   Add the chopped onion and fry it in the rendered fat until soft and golden.

   12 min

5. 5

   Drain the peas, leaving a little liquid in the pot, and season with salt and pepper.

   4 min

6. 6

   Stir the crackling, onion and fat into the peas and serve hot, with cold kefir in a glass.

   5 min

About the dish

Grey peas are a local variety, larger and darker than green ones, with a thick skin and a nutty taste. Ordinary peas turn to purée; here whole grains are wanted.

Soaking is obligatory and long — twelve hours at least. Without it they boil for three hours and stay hard in the middle regardless.

At Christmas the bowl is meant to be finished to the last pea: by tradition every one left behind is a tear in the coming year. Portions are served small for that reason.

Worth knowing

• — Do not salt them before they are soft: salt toughens the skins and the peas never yield.
• — The fat is not drained off. It is what turns boiled peas into a dish, and Latvians are generous with it.
• — Kefir is part of the serving rather than a drink alongside. It cuts the weight of the fat.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

610 kcal

Protein

28 g

Fat

30 g

Carbs

54 g

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• Rye bread layer dessert — Layers of dark rye breadcrumbs, whipped cream and cranberry jam.