JA-MAKNG ME CRAZY RICE AND PEAS

JA-MAKING ME CRAZY RICE AND PEAS

Scott and I decided to have Jamaican night at our house with our good friend, Jeremy.  Jamaican night always means Jerk Chicken smoked on the BGE.  We started growing MOA (minster of agriculture) Scotch Bonnet peppers a few years back and I needed to figure out what to do with a gazillion fruity hot peppers? So me being me, I got out my handy dandy notebook and started tons of research hoping to find recipes that look really good.  Since Scott was going to smoke some Jerk Chicken I wanted to be as authentic as I could be and find another Jamaican recipe.  While doing a bit of research I came across this recipe.  AKA Jamaican Rice and Peas.  I looked at several recipes and pretty much combined them and made my own version of this wonderful dish.  Let me say the name is a bit misleading.  It is rice but it is NOT peas.  You actually use kidney beans in this recipe.  

My version consisted of white or brown jasmine rice, a scotch bonnet pepper, garlic, onions, coconut milk, and homemade chicken stock.  Most recipes will tell you to throw in the pepper whole for flavor and once the dish is made toss the pepper.  I decided to chop my scotch bonnet pepper and keep it in the dish.  Which is perfect since we like spicy foods.

This is the recipe for stovetop Jamaican Rice and Peas.

I broke out the Dutch oven and poured just a bit of olive oil added the onions and sliced scotch bonnet peppers.  I let this sweat a bit until the onions were becoming translucent.   Some recipes have you adding the minced garlic with the onions but you have to be careful because garlic can burn and if that happens it can ruin what you are cooking.  Burnt garlic takes on a bitter flavor.  Saute onions with pepper.  Add the garlic right before you add the rinsed rice.  Yes please rinse your rice until the water comes clear.  I used 2 cups of rice.

Add rice and a jar of kidney beans to the Dutch oven. I almost forgot to use a healthy dose of kosher salt.  Add your liquid next.  One can of coconut milk and enough stock to cover the rice.  Should be around 3 or 4 cups.  Cook covered until the liquid absorbs.  Squeeze a couple of fresh limes into the rice and you have one helluva side dish. 

You can also make this in an instant pot.  However, I suggest you go ole school and use the stovetop method.  It is very similar to the stovetop recipe.  I find it so much easier to make it in the IP.  Both have advantages but for some reason, we like it better on the stovetop.  

Start by chopping up one Scotch bonnet pepper.  

Add half of an onion chopped.

Add a few cloves of garlic minced with some salt or garlic salt.

Measure out the rice and rinse well.  Dump the rice in the inner bowl with pepper, onion, and garlic.  Add one can of coconut milk.  You need to make sure you add some stock so you have the correct rice to water ratio.

Put on the top of the IP and seal.  Set for 5 minutes and once that is done allow it to sit for another 10 minutes and release the pressure. 

  

Add the kidney beans and stir.

Finish off with some lime juice.

JA-MAKING ME CRAZY RICE AND BEANS

Ingredients (this is for both stovetop and IP)

• 1-1/2 cup white or brown jasmine rice
• 1 can of coconut milk
• 2 cups chicken or veggie stock
• 1 scotch bonnet pepper chopped
• 1/2 of a yellow onion or 8 scallions chopped
• 2 to 3 cloves of garlic minced
• 1/2 can of kidney beans
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt or garlic salt
• Juice of 1 lime 

Directions

• Chop the pepper and pepper and place them into your IP. Sauteeing a few minutes then add garlic and salt.
• Measure out rice and rinse well.  Add to the pot.
• Add the coconut milk to the IP.
• Seal the Instant pot and set it on manual for 5 minutes.  Once the time is up, allow sitting another 10 minutes before releasing the pressure.
• Stir in the kidney beans and allow them to warm.  

Again as I said we had this first with jerk chicken, click here for the recipe.  I make this about once a week because Scott loves it so much.  He loves it so much that sometimes he even takes credit for it.  Tsk tsk, Scott you know I am the cook in OUR kitchen.  Sorry, that is a huge joke between us.  

If you have any questions about cooking it either way, please comment.  Or if you try this recipe please give me a shootout on how you enjoyed it.