Jamaican recipe
How to make Rice and peas
The whole island
Rice cooked with red kidney beans, which Jamaicans call 'peas', in coconut milk with thyme, spring onion, allspice and a whole Scotch bonnet pepper for flavour. It is the classic Sunday dinner side dish. At Christmas many families make it with gungo (pigeon) peas instead.
Ingredients
- 1 tin (400 g) red kidney beans, with its liquid
- 400 ml coconut milk
- 400 g long-grain rice, rinsed
- 2 spring onions (scallions), lightly crushed
- 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
- A few sprigs of fresh thyme
- 4 allspice berries (pimento)
- 1 whole Scotch bonnet pepper, left whole and not cut
- 1 teaspoon salt
Method
- Put the beans and their liquid, the coconut milk and 300 ml of water in a large pot with the spring onions, garlic, thyme, allspice and salt, and bring to the boil.
- Add the rice and stir once. Lay the whole Scotch bonnet on top. Do not let it burst, or the dish will be very hot.
- When it boils again, turn the heat to the lowest setting, cover tightly and cook for 20 to 25 minutes, until the rice has absorbed the liquid and is tender. Add a splash of water if it dries out too soon.
- Lift out the pepper, thyme stalks and spring onions, fluff the rice with a fork and leave it covered for 5 minutes before serving.
Made it at home? Tick it off and it goes into your kitchen passport.
In 1961 the linguist Frederic Cassidy wrote that rice and peas had been called 'Jamaica's coat of arms'.
Take the trip to Jamaica
