Simplicity Itself - Rice & Peas

I have a lot of thyme on my hands. But not a lot of time. Hmmm. English. It's a phunny language.

Luckily I also happen to have a Jamaican friend who always mentioned a dish called Rice & Peas during her stay in Canada, where we used to work together (feels like a lifetime ago). I believe she sighed with nostalgic pleasure every time she said it. Oh, don't feel too bad for her - she's now back in her native Jamaica, and I'm positive she is scarfing down all the rice & peas she can get her hands on. I, however, was a skeptic the entire time, because I'd never had it, and frankly just didn't get what the big deal was. Recently I came across a recipe for it that appealed to me because of its use of thyme (per my previous post, you know I'm swamped with it), so decided to go ahead and test it out.

Tara. If you're reading this, I'm eating my words. As well as a big bowl of this stuff for dinner tonight. Again.

Before I go on to the actual recipe, let me quickly clarify to my fellow Indian/Pakistani friends - this isn't rice & peas, aka mattar pulao, like we make it. These aren't green peas. They're pigeon peas, which is a whole different animal. You'd know it as toor daal, the non-oily version, with the skin still on. I was lucky enough to find a can of these in the international section of my grocery store. I also happened to find the prettiest habanero pepper I'd ever seen, so of course, ended up buying it and photographing it a million different ways.

Jamaican Rice & Peas (adapted from the fab blogger over at My Recession Kitchen)

Serves 4-6

Click here for printable recipe

Ingredients:
2 cups cooked pigeon peas (toor daal, whole, non-oily) OR 1 can pigeon peas - can substitute with another red bean, like kidney.
2 cups basmati rice
1 can coconut milk
2+ cups water
1-2 green onions
3-4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 habanero / scotch bonnet chili pepper
1.5 tsp salt

Method:

1. Rinse the rice in water and drain. Put the rice and beans in a large pot.

2. Slit the green onion down the middle and add it to the pot. Lay the thyme sprigs on top. Add in the chili pepper (if using a habanero like I did, pierce it once or twice to impart more heat into the dish)

This was one of those "aha" moments, when a pretty picture just emerged without any staging required.

This is definitely the prettiest habanero on the planet. My goodness, what a beauty.

3. Add enough water to the coconut milk for the mixture to equal 2 cups. Pour this over the rice and beans, then add an additional 2 cups of water along with the salt. Stir once, but make sure the onion, thyme and pepper remain on top.

4. Bring mixture to a boil, then turn the heat down to low and cover the pot. Cook for 30 mins or so, until the liquid is completely absorbed and rice is cooked.

5. Let stand for a few minutes before removing the pepper, onion and thyme. Serve.

Verdict: I had this on it's own and thought it was pretty damn good. Then I had it with a curry and thought it was perfect! It's a simple recipe, which produces unexpected results - complex with the subtle flavors of coconut and thyme and onions. Not to forget that faint hit from the pepper. I'm not even going to kid myself into thinking that this is even close to anything you'd get in Jamaica, but if it's even on the same track, I'm happy. I'm also going to book my next vacation there, then proceed to pig out like a maniac.