A spicy 30-minute meal full of Caribbean flavor, this easy Jamaican rice and pigeon peas recipe will transport you to the islands. An exciting addition to your "rice and beans" repertoire.
Heat a dutch oven or medium heavy bottomed pan that has a tight-fitting lid over high heat.
Add coconut milk, broth/liquid from peas and water to the pan. You need 4 cups of total combined liquid (broth/liquid from peas, coconut milk and water) for this recipe. If you don't have a full 2 cups of broth, add extra water to make the total liquid equal 4 cups in the pan. If you have extra broth, use it and reduce/omit the water. Just make sure you add only 4 cups of liquid total to the pan.
1 cup reduced fat coconut milk, 2 cups liquid/broth from pigeon peas, 1 cup water
Add peas, onion, garlic, all spices, salt and pepper to pan. Stir and bring to a boil.
3 cups cooked pigeon peas*, 1 small onion, 3 cloves garlic, 1 ½ teaspoon dried thyme, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, ½ teaspoon sea salt, ½ teaspoon cajun salt, ¼ teaspoon black pepper, ¼ teaspoon scotch bonnet pepper powder**
Add rice to pan, stir and bring back to a boil.
2 cups white basmati rice
Stir one last time, reduce heat to low, cover with tight fitting lid and set a timer for 15 minutes.
Do not open until 15 minutes has passed (this will cause the steam to escape).
After 15 minutes has passed, check on rice and ensure it's done, especially around the edges of the pan. If it's not done, allow it to cook another 3-5 minutes, covered.
Once done, turn heat off, fluff rice gently and serve.
Notes
*I have a homemade Instant Pot Pigeon Peas recipe for making your own dried pigeon peas in a pressure cooker on this site.*You can also substitute cooked red kidney beans for the pigeon peas. Jamaican rice and peas are commonly made with either pigeon peas or kidney beans. For an authentic recipe made using kidney beans, try this one.** You can substitute cayenne pepper for the scotch bonnet pepper powder. If you have a whole scotch bonnet pepper, use that instead, which is more authentic (do not cut the pepper, they are VERY spicy. Add the WHOLE pepper to the pot after you have stirred all the rice in and before you cover it to cook. Allow the pepper to cook WHOLE along with rice and peas, discard after cooking).