This Congri with Black-Eyed Peas and Rice recipe is a one-pot dish made with long-grain rice, black-eyed peas, crispy bacon, and spices that create one unforgettable meal. It also has a place in the voodoo culture.
What is Congri?
In Cuba, you’ll find that Congri [pronounced kon-gree] is a traditional dish that is made with black beans and rice in the same pot. Arroz con frijoles is a similar dish but the rice and beans are cooked separately. In other parts of Latin America, and even eastern Cuba, you’ll find a congri dish but it’s made with red beans instead of black beans.
Congri came to New Orleans at two different times in history. The first was by the West Africans who were enslaved and brought the dish with them along with many other dishes, cooking techniques, and what is the foundation of many of the foods we still cook today.
Some foods they brought from West Africa were okra and “field peas”. One type of “field pea” they started to harvest in southern Louisiana was the black-eyed pea. With the change in local resources, they had to change how they cooked and prepared their meals. Using black-eyed peas became the main ingredient for their version of congri.
The other time congri made its way into New Orleans was from the Cuban immigrants who brought over their popular version that was made with black beans. Their black bean version is also influenced by the West African slaves that landed in Cuba. It’s also considered the “brother” to red beans and rice.
At some point, to differentiate the two, the black-eyed peas version of congri had a name change and it became what is now considered the New Year’s Day meal that will bring you good luck and fortune for the upcoming year – Hoppin’ John!
Try my Meatless Blacked Eye Peas and Rice recipe or the Hoppin’ John Jambalaya (recipe coming soon). I also made a list of 19 of the Best Hoppin’ John Recipes for the New Year.
The “Lucky” Food
Throughout time, black-eyed peas have been considered a “lucky” food. It’s debatable when it started though. Some say it began with the Ancient Egyptians, who spread the belief to Jews who used the peas for Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, as a symbol of luck. When the Sephardi Jews arrived in the “new world”, Georgia to be precise, they brought this “luck” tradition that quickly spread across the Southern States. The Sephardi Jews include a broad range of Jewish people – one group has ties to Africa.
As the black-eyed peas grew throughout the Southern States, the legend of them being the “luck” pea continued here in the US. One story told of during the Civil War, Union troops rummaged through the Southern countryside sides taking stored foods, crops, and livestock and destroying whatever property they couldn’t take away. At that time, Northerners considered “field peas” animal food, so they left that “food” untouched. It was considered lucky that the Northerners left these “field peas” behind because it was actual food to the people.
Congri as Voodoo Food
As the “lucky” black-eyed peas made their way through New Orleans in the mid-18th Century, so did another big influence – voodoo. If the two weren’t tied together in Western Africa, they would become associated with each other in New Orleans. From the use of spells to the eyes of voodoo dolls, black-eyed peas have been around voodoo for at least three hundred years now here in the United States.
In Africa, the religious practice of voodoo was for goodness, but when the men and women were enslaved and brought to the “new world”, the usage of voodoo shifted to some degree. The slaves would use voodoo as a means to hurt their cruel masters and the whites became afraid of voodoo. Voodooists placed the plate of congri under a tree, surrounded it with silver coins, and danced around it all night long. This dancing around the plate of congri could act as a lucky or evil charm depending on the voodoo priest’s intention.
When they feared that they were cursed, they would go to voodoo practitioners for help. The famous New Orleans Voodoo Queen, Marie Laveau, was one that people would flock to for help.
Besides using congri in the voodoo rituals, she would also serve gumbo. She was known to serve gumbo at different family gatherings, voodoo rites, and to prisoners. There were rumors that the gumbos she delivered to the prisoners were laced. Medicinal herbs were added to soothe the physical and mental pain the inmates were going through. She drugged gumbo which caused the premature death of a prisoner who was sentenced to death so the man didn’t have the trauma of dealing with the hangman.
For better or worse, Marie Laveau would become the face of voodoo. And if you had to face her during a voodoo rite, hopefully, you were on the good side of that bowl of congri!
Are you looking for a gumbo recipe? Try my Chicken and Andouille Sausage and Okra Gumbo. It’s not laced, I promise.
How do you make Congri with Black Eye Peas and Rice?
1. In a Dutch Oven over medium heat, add the bacon slices and fry until they are fully cooked and crispy. Remove the bacon slices from the pot but keep the bacon fat there. On a cutting board, chop the bacon into small pieces and set aside.
2. Add the onions and green bell pepper to the bacon fat and saute for 5 minutes, or until the onions have softened. Add garlic and cook for an additional 1 minute.
3. Add the rice, and black-eyed peas WITH the liquid from the can, tomato sauce, hot sauce, 1 cup water, ground cumin, ground oregano, bay leaf, and salt and pepper. Stir everything together for it is combined.
4. Bring the pot to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer, cover the pot, and cook for 20 minutes. Do not remove the lid.
5. After 20 minutes, remove the pot from the heat and let sit for 10 minutes. To serve, remove the lid, discard the bay leaf, fluff the rice with a fork, and stir in the chopped bacon.
Other Bean Recipes:
- Meatless Black-Eyed Peas and Rice
- Monday Red Beans and Rice
- Fasolado – Greek White Bean Soup
- Simple Spicy White Bean Salad
Congri Black Eyed Peas and Rice
Ingredients
- 6 slices of bacon finely chopped
- 1 sweet onion diced
- ½ cup green bell pepper diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tbsp Louisiana style hot sauce
- 1 cup long-grain white rice uncooked
- 2 15 oz can black-eyed peas save the liquid
- 1 cup water
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp dried oregano
- ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 bay leaf
- salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a Dutch Oven over medium heat, add the bacon slices and fry until they are fully cooked and crispy. Remove the bacon slices from the pot but keep the bacon fat there. On a cutting board, chop the bacon into small pieces and set aside.
- Add the onions and green bell pepper to the bacon fat and saute for 8-10 minutes, or until the onions have softened. Add garlic and cook for an additional 1 minute.
- Add the rice, black-eyed peas WITH the liquid from the cans, hot sauce, 1 cup water, ground cumin, ground oregano, red pepper flakes, bay leaf, and salt and pepper. Stir everything together making sure it's well combined.
- Bring the pot to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer, cover the pot, and cook for 20 minutes. Do not remove the lid.
- After 20 minutes, remove the pot from the heat and let sit for 10 minutes. To serve, remove the lid, remove the bay leaf to discard, fluff the rice with a fork, and stir in the chopped bacon. Enjoy!
Eric Olsson is the food blogger of RedBeansAndEric.com. He publishes new recipes and interviews weekly. He has developed recipes and written articles for the famous Camellia brand in New Orleans, Louisiana. He has been mentioned in Louisiana Cookin‘ magazine and has had recipes featured in Taste of Home magazine – with his Creole Turkey recipe being runner up in their annual Thanksgiving recipe contest. He lives outside of Detroit, Michigan, with his wife and four children.
Seema
This is very interesting to learn about another rice and beans recipe. in every culture they rice and beans meal is a lucky meal. Yum!
Red Beans and Eric
Thank you very much, Seema!
dennis
I made the congri recipe. could not stop eating.
Red Beans and Eric
I’m glad you liked the recipe, Dennis!