JERK CHICKEN WITH RICE AND PEAS
Last night I cooked smoked pigs jowl. I have a habit of buying offal based products, cooking them but being too squeamish to try them. I’m working on this habit, and going to St John for my birthday, to try something very adventurous.
What all of this rambling preamble leads to though is really just an amusing side-note to last nights dinner, which was Jerk chicken with Caribbean rice and peas.
So, utilising my Elisabeth Luard book, the Latin American Kitchen, once again, I used her recipe for jerk seasoning with allspice and applied it to a couple of chicken supremes (these are the breasts with the wing still attached, on the bone and with the skin on, ensuring a moist, flavourful chicken).
The spice rub consisted of quite a few ingredients, thankfully all of which I had in my overflowing drawers (no snarky comments, please), except for the dried onion and I simply replaced that with fresh shallot.
I love marinating food. I love squishing the bronze coloured spices into the raw meat, and the expectation of the flavoursome, juicy meat that follows is almost too much to bear.
But bear it I did. I prepared the spice rub in the morning, marinated the meat at lunch time and cooked it for supper, the rub turning the skin blackened and spicy, the meat remaining moist and toothsome.
The Caribbean peas and rice were made with Pigeon peas (also known as gunga or gungo pea, Congo pea and, rather charmingly, no-eyed pea).
Pigeon Peas
The pigeon pea was cultivated over 3000 years ago in Asia and Africa but didn’t reach the Americas until the dismal days of slave trading. They are still incredibly popular in India, and are usually served split, as toor daal. Like all legumes, the Pigeon pea is nutritionally important, being high in protein and amino acids (including tryptophan).
In the Western world, pigeon peas are most famously seen in this dish, a traditional combination of the dried pea, basmati rice and coconut milk. Sometimes the rice is replaced with beans, sometimes some salt pork is added.
To shake things up a bit (and because it was taking up precious room in the freezer), I decided to throw smoked jowl to add flavour to the rice and peas. I suspected that some salt pork would certainly add flavour and it definitely did.
What is Jerk Seasoning?
According to Norma Benghiat’s Traditional Jamaican Cookery, the term, to jerk, is derived from “the English form of a Spanish word of Indian origin, meaning to prepare pork in the manner of the Quichua Indians (of South America).” Whilst we understand jerk as a seasoning, and indeed it is, it is the whole method of preparing the meat that fully encompasses the jerked meat.
This method of preparing meat goes back to the 17th century, and the best way to try it is at a traditional Jamaican jerk restaurant or food truck, for this is a true symbol of Jamaican identity, freedom and culture. Please read this wonderful post on the Jamaica Café website to feel what it truly means to prepare and eat jerk chicken.
Traditionally, the prepared meat (often a wild boar or pig, served whole), would be rubbed with classic jerk seasonings, hot pepper, pimento, nutmeg, cinnamon, spring onion, salt, pepper, and then placed over a grill that is fired up with wood.
Warmed up with a couple of Scotch bonnets and seasoned with some dried thyme (a classic West Indian herb), onion, garlic and plenty of salt, it was a tasty way to serve peas and rice and a perfect, pale match for the chicken.
If you want to replicate the peas and rice at home, I think that you could omit the smoked jowl and use some pancetta or diced smoked bacon instead without much recourse. I would suggest a final sprinkling of some chopped spring onion to lift the whole dish though.
Customise your Jerk
Jerk seasoning is also amazing on fish, prawns, pork and just about any other meat you can imagine! It is also awesome on veggies or tofu.
JERK CHICKEN WITH RICE AND PEAS
INGREDIENTS
Spice Rub
- 1 tablespoon Ground allspice
- 1 tablespoon Ground ginger
- 1 tablespoon Dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon Sea salt
- 1 teaspoon Cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon Sugar
- ½ teaspoon Ground white pepper
- ½ teaspoon Ground cinnamon
For the Chicken
- 1 Shallot peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 Garlic clove, crushed
- 2 Chicken breasts skin on (this is very important to ensure your chicken is moist)
- 1 Lime juice only
- 1 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
Peas and Rice
- 50 g Salt pork cut into small cubes
- 1 Scotch bonnet
- 400 g Pigeon peas I used canned or use kidney beans
- 125 g Basmati rice
- 400 ml Coconut milk can
- 2 Garlic chopped finely
- 1 Onion finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon Dried thyme
- Seasoning
INSTRUCTIONS
Jerk Chicken
- Mix together all the dry ingredients for the spice rub.
- Place the chicken breasts in a Ziplock bag with a couple of tablespoons of the spice rub, plus the lime juice, olive oil, chopped garlic and shallot and mix well. Leave to chill for at least 4 hours in the fridge.
- To cook, preheat a griddle until really, really hot and place the breasts (obviously removed from the bag), skin down on the griddle.
- Cook for about 15 minutes or so, turning halfway. You may need to turn the heat down a touch if the jerk seasoning looks as if it is going just a touch too black.
Jamaican Peas and Rice
- Drain the tinned peas and place in a large saucepan with the dried thyme, garlic, onion and salt pork if using.
- Cover with water, about an inch or so above the ingredients.
- Bring to the boil, cover and reduce heat to a gentle simmer for 5 minutes.
- Stir in the coconut milk and the rice and add the Scotch bonnet.
- Replace the lid and cook for another 20 minutes or until the rice and beans are both tender.
- Taste for seasoning.
