This isn’t exactly my own recipe: I adapted it from somewhere else (perhaps the Jamaican Tourism Board site) for use in a rice cooker which is how I cook all my rice dishes. A Jamaican woman who works with #1 didn’t believe that I didn’t have help from a Jamaican born cook.
Ingredients
1½ cups of rice (I use basmati, but any long grain white rice will work fine.)
½ cup of dried pigeon peas a/k/a/ gandules, soaked as per the package instructions
5 cloves of garlic crushed
1 uncut scotch bonnet or habanero pepper (try to get one with the stem still attached)
3 whole scallions
½ cup of coconut milk (you can, and perhaps should, use the Lite, lower fat, version)
½ teaspoon of kosher salt
½ teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
1 sprig of fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon of dried thyme.
Cooking
Crush the garlic and add to 5 cups of boiling water
Add the soaked pigeon peas and boil over medium heat for 45 minutes, being careful the water doesn’t boil away. Test to see if the peas are cooked by crushing one or 2 against the lid of the pot. If they crush easily, they are done. If not, continue to cook for 15 additional minutes. When done, strain the peas into a strainer and reserve the cooking liquid in a clean bowl.
Place 1 ½ cups of uncooked white rice into the pot of an electric, Japanese-style, rice cooker. Add in the cooked peas and cooked pieces of crushed garlic. Add 3 cups of the liquid used to cook the peas (if necessary, add water to bring the volume to 3 cups) into the rice cooker. The beans/peas, while now cooked, will continue to absorb some water in the next step so make sure you don’t have too little volume. Add in your coconut milk, salt, black pepper and thyme to the mix.
Crush the scallion with the side or back of a wide chef’s knife (DO NOT CHOP) and add this.
Add the uncut scotch bonnet pepper, nb - the pepper remains uncut so as to not make the rice spicy, just give it a subtle peppery flavor.
Cook as for White Rice according to the instructions for your rice cooker until the cooker says they are finished. Open the cooker and remove the whole pepper, crushed scallions, any large pieces of garlic and discard. Stir well with a wooden spoon to evenly distribute the peas.
The Rice and Peas is now ready to serve!
Ingredients
1½ cups of rice (I use basmati, but any long grain white rice will work fine.)
½ cup of dried pigeon peas a/k/a/ gandules, soaked as per the package instructions
5 cloves of garlic crushed
1 uncut scotch bonnet or habanero pepper (try to get one with the stem still attached)
3 whole scallions
½ cup of coconut milk (you can, and perhaps should, use the Lite, lower fat, version)
½ teaspoon of kosher salt
½ teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
1 sprig of fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon of dried thyme.
Cooking
Crush the garlic and add to 5 cups of boiling water
Add the soaked pigeon peas and boil over medium heat for 45 minutes, being careful the water doesn’t boil away. Test to see if the peas are cooked by crushing one or 2 against the lid of the pot. If they crush easily, they are done. If not, continue to cook for 15 additional minutes. When done, strain the peas into a strainer and reserve the cooking liquid in a clean bowl.
Place 1 ½ cups of uncooked white rice into the pot of an electric, Japanese-style, rice cooker. Add in the cooked peas and cooked pieces of crushed garlic. Add 3 cups of the liquid used to cook the peas (if necessary, add water to bring the volume to 3 cups) into the rice cooker. The beans/peas, while now cooked, will continue to absorb some water in the next step so make sure you don’t have too little volume. Add in your coconut milk, salt, black pepper and thyme to the mix.
Crush the scallion with the side or back of a wide chef’s knife (DO NOT CHOP) and add this.
Add the uncut scotch bonnet pepper, nb - the pepper remains uncut so as to not make the rice spicy, just give it a subtle peppery flavor.
Cook as for White Rice according to the instructions for your rice cooker until the cooker says they are finished. Open the cooker and remove the whole pepper, crushed scallions, any large pieces of garlic and discard. Stir well with a wooden spoon to evenly distribute the peas.
The Rice and Peas is now ready to serve!
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