It is probably a stretch calling this brunch since it was around 11:30 but what the heck.
As is the family tradition, blackeye peas have to be part of the New Year’s Day menu for good luck. My favorite way to serve them is in Dirty Rice with eggs.
1/2 lb browned ground pork sausage, then the Dirty Rice mix cooked according to the package.
When the Dirty Rice mixture is almost done I put one can of thoroughly rinsed blackeye peas.
Finish the rice with the peas then served up with fried eggs.
Dinner: Because we had a lot of the lettuce wrap ingredients still left, we decided to go ahead and have Asian again tonight.
There was not quite enough meat left for the lettuce wraps so I cooked up some ground pork sausage, mixed in some chopped water chestnuts and green onions. The sauce was a mixture of Hoisin, sake and mirin… simmered until thickened.
The ingredient choices for the lettuce wraps included the leftover beef & pork & shrimp from last night and the ground pork mixture.
I had to show off my new can opener, which my Heart gave me for Christmas. It is super cool and works great… especially nice since I sometimes have trouble twisting our old can opener and have also sliced my hand open on can lids. This one is much safer !!
Gyoza (or pot stickers) were the addition for tonight’s dinner. Since we were having meat(s) for the lettuce wraps, we had the vegetable dumplings. They are so easy to make – browned on one side in about 1 Tbsp oil, (2-3 minutes) – flip and pour in 1/3c water – cover and boil until most of the water has evaporated (approximately 2-3 minutes).
The gyoza was served with ready-made gyoza sauce but a little shoyu, vinegar and sesame oil works great. We also had some stir-fried vermicelli that I bought at the Asian Market yesterday. This is the first time we’ve tried this takeout dish – it was very good and something I will definitely buy again.