Caribbean coconut rice and peas
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Serves:
4
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Yield:
4 servings
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Ready in:
40 mins
(15 mins
Prep
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25 mins
Cook)
This recipe is based on a traditional Caribbean favourite. It's made with black-eyed beans or red kidney beans, which are called peas in Jamaica – hence the name of the dish. Red pepper has been added for extra vegetable content and a small amount of lean, smoked bacon lifts the flavour.
Ingredients
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1 tbsp vegetable oil
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3 lean, smoked, thick-cut back bacon rashers, trimmed and diced
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1 large onion, finely chopped
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1 large red pepper, deseeded and thinly sliced
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2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
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1 red or green chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
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225g long-grain rice, rinsed
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450ml boiling water
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400ml can reduced-fat coconut milk
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400g can red kidney or black-eyed beans, drained
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2 sprigs of fresh thyme
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2 tomatoes, diced
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TO SERVE Tabasco sauce
Preparation method
- Heat the oil in a large saucepan or deep frying pan, add the bacon and cook over a gentle heat for 2 minutes until lightly browned. Add the onion and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes or until softened. Reduce the heat and stir in the pepper, garlic and chilli and cook for 1 minute.
- Stir in the rice, then pour in the boiling water and the coconut milk and add a pinch of salt. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat. Add the drained beans and thyme, then cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes to the pan and continue to cook gently for a further 10 minutes until the rice is just tender. (The mixture should still be a little sloppy.) Remove the sprigs of thyme and serve with Tabasco sauce to sprinkle over.
Copyright
Copyright by The Readers Digest Association, Inc. 2006
variations
Instead of using bacon, just cook the onion in the oil, then add some cooked meat, such as shredded chicken or pork, to the finished dish before serving. * For a vegetarian meal, simply leave out the bacon.