Caribbean Rice And Peas
Is it rice and peas or peas and rice?? That’s the life long debate between Guyanese and the Jamaicans and Trinidadians. I say, who cares? Potato…Potahto. Rice is a main part of Caribbean food. It’s usually Rice with______ for lunch or dinner. After 30 years on this earth and eating rice almost every day, I have yet to grow tired of eating it. 
Even though I don’t need to eat rice every day, a few members of my family will throw mini hissy fits if rice isn’t present. Peas and rice is usually served with some type of stew such as oxtail or brown stewed chicken. The combination is fricking awesome! I will be making jerk chicken wings to serve with this and a side salad. Lunch will be great!!
Get the Recipe Rice and Peas
Ingredients
- ¾ cup kidney beans
- 3 ¼ cups water
- 14 oz can coconut milk
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 scallion, chopped
- 10 sprigs thyme
- 2 ½ cup long grain rice
- 1 wiri pepper or ¼ of a scotch bonnet pepper
Instructions
- Place beans in a bowl and cover with water. Soak overnight. Drain.
- Add beans with 3 cups water in a large pot and bring to a boil. Cook until tender. I’ve found that the cook time for beans varies from batch to batch, so cook these until you’re able to smash them easily with your fingers, but still firm.
- When beans are tender, add coconut milk, garlic, scallion, thyme and pepper; bring to a boil.
- Add rice, stir well then lower the heat. Cover pot and simmer for 20-25 minutes. Rice should be soft but not mushy. Fluff with a fork, then serve.
I am a rice person… this recipe would definitely be in my list =)
I love beans in my rice. This sounds delicious.
This looks like what my mom called “cook up”. I hated it growing up, but it looks delicious here! (I think she made it with black eyed peas.)
Hi Jehan- does it matter what type of long grain rice you use for this dish? I used a Jasmine brand and the results were nothing like yours! especially the color! I’m so disappointed in my first try on this!:( Help!
Jasmine rice would work just fine in this dish, however I used uncooked/uncanned beans. The color of the dish comes from the liquid that the beans was boiled in, you will not achieve this color if you use canned peas.
oh also does is matter if the beans are from the can?
ok thanks sooo much that helps to know:) keep up the good work your dishes look awesome and tasty! Blessings to you and your family
Thanks Toni.
Hey there! I have been following you ever since I stumbled on your post. I am Indo-Guyanese now living in NE Atlanta with a very important question for you: Where are you getting your wiri-wiri peppers from here?
I know it seems silly but I’m very curious, please help if you can!…………..Btw, your cooking and recipes are awesome!
Thanks again!
Hi Samantha, there’s a Guyanese store on Covington Highway in Decatur that sometimes carry Wiri wiri pepper. Here’s a post that I wrote featuring Georgetown Food Market and here’s the contact info:
https://jehancancook.com/?p=3064
Georgetown Food Market
4055 Covington Highway
Decatur, Ga 30032
Lets see, I’m going to try this for my grandpas birthday. I always mess this rice up each time. So I’m hoping this works out for me. Looks so good.
I apologize if this is somewhere else on your website, but the recipe says 1 bouillon. Is this a cube of chicken bouillon, beef bouillon? Thanks in advance.
Veronica unless it’s a beef dish, it’s a chicken bouillon.
Thanks so much for getting back to me, Jehan! I want to make it for my family on Saturday–so this is right on time.
I’m from St.Kitts in the Eastern Caribbean which means I’m a Kittitian and there it’s officially called “Rice & Peas”. I can’t argue with that because by my logic there are far more Rice represented than Peas. Great recipe though.
Is this recipe supposed to have bullion or salt? I feel like it needed something and saw that someone else commented about bullion. I was also wondering if you cover your beans when cooking? I had to add extra water because the rice wasn’t done, but all the liquid had been absorbed. But maybe my lid just didn’t fit tightly enough.
This is rice and peas is not meant to be salted. It is not supposed to be eaten alone but with stews or meat. I didn’t cover my beans when boiling. Cooking time will depend greatly on the heat of your stove, be sure to turn it down to the lowest possible, your heat might have been too high.