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Jerk chicken with rice & peas

Jerk chicken with rice & peas are of course Jamaican; but for me they (and curried goat and saltfish patties…) will always be associated with New Cross, SE London — the only place I ever called home as an adult.

Rice & Peas
Also known as the real ‘Jamaican Coat of Arms’, the ‘peas’ these days are often red kidney beans, but for authenticity use gungko (or pigeon- or black-eyed-) peas. I have experimented with several recipes over the years, but this from caribseek sounds the most fool-proof:

1 can ‘peas’; 500g long-grain rice; 1 can coconut milk; 1 onion; ½ tsp dried thyme; splash oil; 1 Scotch Bonnet (Habanero) chilli (a dash of Encona Red Pepper Sauce can be substituted); salt & black pepper

Combine liquid from the can, add coconut milk and make up to 3½ cups (875 ml).
Fry the finely chopped onion in a large pot until transparent, add the thyme and stir through, then mix in rice and peas, salt & pepper and cover with liquid. Pop in the whole chilli, cover with a tight-fitting lid and bring to a simmer. Stir once, replace the lid and leave on low heat ca. 20 minutes until the liquid is absorbed. Fish out the chilli and discard, stir and adjust seasoning. If the rice is not tender enough, stir in 3-4 TB water and heat through 5 more minutes.

Jerk Chicken
2tsp allspice (pimento); 1 tsp thyme; 1 TB Encona Red Pepper Sauce; 1 tsp mustard powder; 1/4 tsp ground bayleaf; ½ tsp ground cinnamon; pinch nutmeg; 2 cloves crushed garlic; zest & juice 1 lime; 4 spring onions; 1 TB soy sauce.

Liquidize, add extra salt, hot sauce or lime juice to taste.

1.5 kg free-range chicken thighs & drumsticks

Pierce skin with a fork and rub in sauce. Best left to marinate overnigt, but a few hours wil do at a dash. Roast at 175°C until cooked through (ca 1h), turning occasionally.

— To be perfectly honest, my rice & peas usually ends up sticky, so we have the chicken with chips and salad. Also, truly authentic Jamaican Jerk Marinade comes in jars — Dunn River and Walker’s Wood are both very good — and we always have one in the fridge (it keeps almost indefinitely). That way, we can have delicious free-range jerk chicken at least once a week without any hassle. But I learnt doing it the hard way!

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