Hello everyone. I did some research on what food people make when they want luck to prosper in their lives. I found that some people make: moon cakes, black-eyed peas (in the South), coin baked in bread (Greece), both clams and spring rolls symbolize wealth in Chinese. In my own experience I’ve met people from different Latino cultures that make certain foods on holidays; like on New Years Eve they make a huge pot of lentils and serve grapes at midnight.
In honor of being the first in my family to graduate from college my mother and I decided we would make something new that signified luck -- lentils. We combined some of the traditional ingredients below with something special, pork. I wanted to add pork; since pork (or pernil) is a traditional dish in our family and I love it. I felt it was necessary. We added pork fat, or grasa de puerco. We cooked in down for its flavor then separated the fat from any meat, which we left in the pot. All the juices and flavor from the pork dissolved into the lentils. Came out delicious and I had lentils leftover for a week. Plus I got to cook with my mom in my very little kitchen -- fun stuff.
So tell me, what do you make for luck in your family?
Ingredients included: lentils (fresh dried and soaked in water), yellow onion, chopped leeks (white and light green parts only), fresh thyme leaves, salt, fresh garlic, black pepper, celery, carrots, chicken stock, pork fat, and tomato paste.
