Jerk chicken with rice & peas

Chicken · Jamaican classic.

Ingredients

• 12 Chicken Thighs
• 1/2 Lime
• 1 bunch Spring Onions
• 1 tbs chopped Ginger
• 3 cloves Garlic
• 1/2 Onion
• 3 chopped Red Chilli
• 1/2 teaspoon Thyme
• Juice of 1 Lime
• 2 tbs Soy Sauce
• 2 tbs Vegetable Oil
• 3 tbs Brown Sugar
• 1 tbs Allspice
• 200g Basmati Rice
• 400g Coconut Milk
• 1 bunch Spring Onions
• 2 sprigs Thyme
• 2 cloves chopped Garlic
• 1 tbs Allspice
• 800g Kidney Beans

Method

1. Blend — To make the jerk marinade, combine all the ingredients in a food processor along with 1 tsp salt, and blend to a purée.
2. Mix together — If you’re having trouble getting it to blend, just keep turning off the blender, stirring the mixture, and trying again.
3. Add ingredients — Eventually it will start to blend up – don’t be tempted to add water, as you want a thick paste.
4. Mix together — Taste the jerk mixture for seasoning – it should taste pretty salty, but not unpleasantly, puckering salty.
5. Chill — You can now throw in more chillies if it’s not spicy enough for you.
6. Mix together — If it tastes too salty and sour, try adding in a bit more brown sugar until the mixture tastes well balanced.
7. Continue cooking — Make a few slashes in the chicken thighs and pour the marinade over the meat, rubbing it into all the crevices.
8. Marinate — Cover and leave to marinate overnight in the fridge.
9. Continue cooking — If you want to barbecue your chicken, get the coals burning 1 hr or so before you’re ready to cook.
10. Grill — Authentic jerked meats are not exactly grilled as we think of grilling, but sort of smoke-grilled.
11. Heat the pan — To get a more authentic jerk experience, add some wood chips to your barbecue, and cook your chicken over slow, indirect heat for 30 mins.
12. Heat the pan — To cook in the oven, heat to 180C/160C fan/gas 4.

More Jamaica recipes

• Brown Stew Chicken
• Callaloo and SaltFish
• Callaloo Jamaican Style
• Corned Beef and Cabbage – Jamaican Style
• Escovitch Fish
• Grape Nut Ice Cream