From GastroLab with Love: Jamaican peas and rice (quasi-vegetarian)

Sometimes the dreary weather makes you wish you are somewhere else. While a plane ticket at the splurge of the moment is off-limits for the 99%, a meal in a far-flung land can transport you there-- until you realize that it was still freezing outside and your heating bill is going to double this month because you want to feel like Jamaica in your house, 'mon. When it comes to making food from far-flung lands, I usually scour around the Internet for recipes. However, I do not just use one recipe. Most of the times, I would read multiple recipes, identify the common theme (or formula, per say), and reinterpret them to make it my own.  For the Jamaican peas and rice, I use recipes from here, here, here, and wikipedia as references.  


Below is my reconstruction of Jamaican peas and rice based on my sources. Originally, this was made to accompany my ultra-spicy lamb vindaloo (yes it's Indian...  they have Indian-influenced food on the island!) take out. Everyone knows curried "goat" and peas and rice goes together like Big Macs and fries (although the curried "goat" and rice both cringes when I say that).


Let's start with the ingredients:

Mise en place.  I excluded water, rice and salt for photo purpose.  

For those who have a hard time with the picture, here's the written form:  

4 - 8 oz dry red kidney beans 

Approx. 1/4" x 1/4" square salt cured pork (salt pork for short.  In theory you can replace this with ham hock, smoked turkey bone, sausages and bacon of different forms, whatever)

1 scotch bonnet pepper (Habanero can be used in a pinch)

5 - 10 whole allspice berries

2 - 3 whole green onion 

2 cloves garlic 

Approx. 1/2 tsp dried thyme

1 - 1.5 cup uncooked rice 

250 - 300 mL coconut milk 

salt to taste 

Water and/or stock (stock is optional)

Your preference matters more than exactness.  For me, the beans and rice ratio is optimal at 35/65, but your mileage may vary.  Obviously, if you don't want to "poison" your vegetarian friend (or in some's mind, show them nirvana, since a life without meat is not worth living), take out the salt pork.  

Brown chopped-up salt cured pork in a dry pot under medium-low heat.  If you are making the vegetarian version, skip this step.  I use a cast iron dutch oven coated with enamel here, but you should be able to use any pot.  The heat distribution, heat retention, and steam sealing capabilities with these kinds of pot are better than your normal run-of-the-mill pot, making them more energy efficient and thus great for items with a long, wet cooking process.  

About 2 minutes later, the salt pork fat is melting and carmelizing.  This gives the rice some meaty flavor.  I throw in the garlic to pick up some char.  If you're making vegetarian version, use a little bit of oil (canola, peanut, corn, vegetable oil are all good... just not extra virgin olive oil) and brown garlic lightly if you prefer.  

Add washed beans.  I did not soak the beans overnight because it takes only a bit longer to cook on the stove directly.  Soaking "saves" cooking time only if you actually remember to soak the beans overnight or longer (clearly, I did not).  If you only have a couple hours, don't waste your time soaking-- direct heat is much faster. 

Throw in some water, salt and allspice berries to cook.  Put in enough water to cover the beans to start and not a drop more (Okay, it can be a drop more, but no more than that!).  Once the water boil, turn the heat down to low to medium heat.  The water would hydrate the beans and whatever is left would be used for cooking the rice.  If you put too much water in this stage, you would have soggy rice.  Remember you still have another 200 - 300 mL of liquid to go, so do be shy here.  Lid up for an hour or so on low heat once it boils.  Check on water level and bean tenderness throughout the hour while stirring occasionally.  If you choose not to use salt pork (which, frankly, you may be missing out on the best animal known to man) or any other cured animal parts, you should use at least part stock here to make up for the flavor.  I would go maybe 30 - 50% stock with the rest being water, erring on the low side on the stock content for if you use stocks make with dead animals.  For vegetarian stock, you should be able to use a higher ratio-- maybe start at 50%.  The final flavor profile should contain more coconut-like taste.  A large stock flavor (especially one made partly out of dead animals) may overwhelm the balance.  It's up to you though.  

50 minutes later, the beans feel al dente, so the thyme and rice can now go into the pot.  Usually the peas in Jamaican peas and rice are whole at the end of the cooking process so keep an eye out on the tenderness.  You don't want the beans to disintegrate when it's done cooking with the rice.  I have some rice still with husks on them so I put it in at this stage with a little bit of water.  If you have regular rice, you do not need to put them in ahead of time:  follow instruction from where the scotch bonnet pepper and green onions are prepared.  However, do note that you would need to cook the beans a little bit longer (maybe add another 10 - 15 minutes) at this stage so that the rice and the beans are done at the same time.  This is in line with my original 1 hour estimate at the last check point. 

15 minutes later, the rice and peas absorb quite a bit of water.  Time to add more ingredients!  

The scotch bonnet pepper and the white/light green part of the green onion, chopped.  WARNING:  the scotch bonnet pepper can cause serious burns when touched, especially when it's cut open.  DO NOT touch mucous membrane and sensitive areas (or anywhere that you care to save for future *maybe procreation* purposes) without proper decontamination after handling the pepper!  Don't say I did not warn you! Cut the scotch bonnet open on the bottom for better flavor (but also extra heat) in your food.  If you don't like spicy food, I would still recommend cutting the pepper, even if it's just a small incision.  The pepper has a lot of fruity flavors that doesn't necessarily come out without some tear on the structure.  

Now the rest of the rice, scotch bonnet pepper, and chopped green onion goes into the pot.  Stir it up for evenness and prevent bottom burn.  

Add in some coconut milk as the final dose of liquid into the pot to just cover the rice.  Remember:  you can always add more, but you can't take it out.  No one likes soupy, soggy rice (unless you're Asian, in which case there's a cauldron of bubbling hell called congee.  If you're not Asian, there's rice pudding...).  Lid up to cook under low to medium heat and stirring occasionally.  Pull the scotch bonnet pepper out early if you do not like spicy food.  

About 20 minutes later, most of the liquid is absorbed by the rice.  Taste test indicates the rice is nice and tender to my liking-- this is done!  If you don't want a super burnt bottom, stir the rice occasionally when it's cooking and make sure the heat is on low.    Fluff the rice before serving.   

Serve with freshly chopped green part of the green onion earlier.  This is optional, but I really like the green onion taste so I add a bunch here.  The color on the rice comes from a combination of the beans and the rice I used-- but mostly from the beans.

Total time elapsed:  1 hour 45 minutes.  

This rice is very coconut-y.  It really gives the cajun version beans and rice a run of its money.  Because of its inherent sweetness and creaminess, it goes great with my ultra-spicy lamb vindaloo (or any other spicy food, for that matter).  By the way, like it's step-cousin milk, coconut milk is also very good at cutting the Scoville scale down a couple notches.  I ended up cutting the lamb vindaloo down with some coconut milk and was partially successful in lowering the heat index.  

Bon appetit!  


Edit to add:  


1.  For the pescetarian, mashed up anchovies (if you're into anchovies) can be an option as a salt pork replacement, but be very sure that you do not use too much of it.  Anchovies are powerful stuff!


2.  For the vegetarians who are still on dairy, butter can be an option in place of the plant-derived oil.  Since butter has a lot of other stuff besides fat in it, it would bring in good flavors. 


These options has not been road-tested so your mileage may vary.  Option 1 carries a much higher risk than Option 2, so tread carefully.  With that said, if you ended up trying these options, please report how well it works in the comments.  I would love to hear from you!