Today I am sharing a Jamaican recipe that I can only describe as an institution. As a child, on the occasions when my sister and I would get asked what we wanted for dinner, or for lunch, we would often utter the same mantra time and time again – “Rice and peas and chicken”. These two go together like peanut butter and jam, spaghetti and meatballs or bacon and eggs. On the occasions when I’m craving food from home, nothing hits the spot better than this. Now a lot of people will think of jerk chicken straight away when it comes to Jamaican food (recipe here); but brown stew chicken is also a very popular dish, particularly for cooking en mass. It has a very earthy, sticky sweet taste while the scotch bonnet peppers add the fire to keep you warm.
Hope you like this one 🙂
Ingredients:
- 1 large white onion
- 6-8 chicken thighs
- 4 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
- 2 scotch bonnet peppers (if you don’t have them 2 green chillies will do)
- 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1 tsp allspice (mixed spice)
- 2 tbsp brown sauce
- 1 tin chopped tomatoes
- 2 bell peppers
Method:
- Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a large saucepan or wok on a medium heat. Add chicken thighs to the pan skin side down and leave to cook for 2-3 minutes. Turn to brown on the other side for a further 2 minutes then remove from the heat.Tip: Doing this makes the skin nice and crispy. If you have thighs without skin skip this step and put the thighs in with the other ingredients.
- Slice the onion into rings and add to the pan along with the garlic, chillies, soy sauce, brown sugar, thyme, allspice and brown sauce. Mix together and leave the chicken to marinate for 10-15 minutes.
Tip: I use this time to make the salad and get the rice on - Slice the bell peppers and add to the pot along with a tin of chopped tomatoes. Mix together, then cook the chicken on a medium-low heat for 1 hr.
- Serve with rice and peas and a side salad.
Multicolour Kitchen 