Today we are going to a recipe that is relatively new to me, but I really love it and wish I had this dish a lot time ago! Rice and beans, known as "peas" in the Caribbean, are a staple of many Caribbean and Central American countries' cuisines. It is a savory dish that is served as a side in many meals, including breakfast. Rice and peas is commonly served with meat, but at home you can just as easily eat them with vegetables or some other type of main course. I actually love these as a meal by themselves too. In Jamaica,commonly goes with jerk chicken, a dish that I will post in the coming weeks.
I was inspired to take on Jamaican rice and peas after watching and episode of Gordon Ramsey's "Nightmare Kitchen". In the episode he is helping a Jamaican restaurant in L.A. and restaurant's rice and peas are dry and flavorless, but looked like they could be delicious!. The rice looked very similar to the red bean rice eaten in Korea and Japan, which I love, so I decided I need to try out Jamaican rice and peas. After looking at a different recipes and trying out a few batches, I created a recipe that I really enjoy. While this dish is usually made with kidney beans, I am not the biggest fan of them, and I instead put black beans in the dish. You can put in dish what ever kind of beans you like and are a fan of. I and a very big fan of this dish and I hope you are too!
Josh's Jamaican Rice and Peas
Ingredients (makes about 5 cups):
- 2 cups of long grain rice
- 1 15 oz can of black beans (or any beans of your choice)
- 1 19 oz can of coconut milk
- 1/2 a large onion, chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 scotch bonnet or habanero pepper
- 2 teaspoons of ground allspice
- 2 teaspoons of salt
- 2 teaspoons of dried thyme leave
Directions:
- Pour coconut milk and juice from canned beans into a liquid measuring glass. Top off with water so combined liquid is a total of 3 1/2 cups. Pour into pot. The rice will be cooked in a mixture that is pretty rich, giving the rice good flavor.
coconut milk, bean juice, and water mix - Put rest of can of beans, chopped onion, minced garlic, and whole scotch bonnet/habanero into liquid mixture. I have had trouble finding scotch bonnet peppers, but habanero are a good alternative. They are members of the same species, just different varieties, which gives them a little bit of a different taste. You can chop up the pepper if you want but it is extremely spicy. Adding it whole gives the rice a subtle kick and flavor. If you do chop up the pepper put plastic over your hands. If you don't every time you touch your face, it will burn.
- Add 2 teaspoons of allspice, 2 teaspoons of salt and 2 teaspoons of dried thyme leaves to pot. Bring to boil on high. Be sure to stir when bringing to a boil. You don't want the bottom to burn and you want to make sure that the ingredients are mixed.
All of the ingredients and spices getting ready to boil - Add 2 cups of washed and rinsed long grain rice. Bring back to boil. The rice will take just a few seconds to bring back to a full boil.
- Once at boil turn stove on low and simmer for 25 minutes. This may need 30 min but for me it was 25. Just take a look at 25 min and if the rice looks to wet, then let cook for 5 more minutes.
- Let rice rest off the element for 10 minutes and then fluff with a fork. It is always good to let rice sit for a little bit. It allows the moisture to redistribute from the bottom of the pan to the top, making all the rice fluffy! Once you fluff the rice you can get rid of the pepper.
Rested and fluffed rice. - Plate up and eat! Eat with as a side with meat or vegetables. After this recipe I just ate it by itself. Basically eat it how ever you please.
Yum!
Josh
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