Cooking for People Unsure of What a Stove Does: Recipe 2 - Jamaican Rice and Peas

Is it part of a spaceship?

  Isn't it funny how people need to eat at about the same times, every day?  Hopefully you've attempted to cook something in the past week, rather than making a plate of (insert type of pasta here) covered with (tomato sauce du jour) in one of the University's cafeterias.  If you haven't I've got a bare-bones version of Jamaican rice and peas coming up below.  Guten Appetit!

Jamaican Style Rice and Peas

Ingredients:

• Rice of your choice (I used the type which comes packaged in bags to cook in, the process is the same for "loose" rice)
• Peas or beans (or whatever small cut mixed vegetables you might have floating around)
• Water (about 1 cup water for 1 cup rice)
• Oil or butter
• Curry powder (there are different varieties; the more orange/red, the hotter it is)
• Milk (optional)
• Salt, pepper, paprika, and red chili (to taste)

Believe me, the water is actually boiling.
There is no way I put the rice in too early.

      Add water to your pot (about 1:1, rice to water; too much water is better than too much rice), bring it to a boil, add your rice, and cover the pot.  Allow the rice to cook at a boil for at least 10 minutes (unless you bought instant rice of some variety, in that case refer to the packaging).  You will notice that when the rice is fully cooked, that it sticks to itself slightly, and should look the same all the way through (undercooked rice tends to look like it has a translucent center).

Perfectly mixed!  ...I think?

      When your rice is fully cooked, drain it, and put it in your bowl or container.  Then, while it is still slightly wet (the excess water will evaporate or soak into the rice), stir in some of your curry powder.  Add it slowly, mixing through, until the rice is an even yellow color.

I use other vegetables, I swear.

 


     Next, place your veggies (peas or beans are the typical choices, but whatever you happen to have on hand will do) in your pot, pour some oil over them, mix well, and then cook them until they are no longer frozen.

Easy does it!

     Once they are softened, add in curry powder, mixing while you do so.

I think the lonely yellow strip could be ginger...

  

   Keep the vegetables on the heat until they begin to brown slightly.  If for some reason, you prefer drier vegetables, pour them over your rice and dig in.

I know, I know, we should have used skim.

     However, if you've noticed that your rice has turned into a sticky mass of edible difficulty, add about a cup of milk to your vegetables.  According to the internet, people tend to use coconut, but my roommate and I were cooking together today, and this is what we had on hand.

I might have added some water too.

     

     Allow some of the milk to boil off before serving, as this will thicken the sauce.

The poor salt is lonely when the Timbu spices hang out...

     Season to taste.  (you will have to use your imagination for the chili; sorry about that)

The container is back!

     Now pour the vegetables and sauce over your rice, and eat up!  And before I forget, if you happen to be cooking with someone else, give them fair warning to break out the yogurt if you happen to have put six whole dried chilies in the sauce when you were cooking.  I'm not saying that this has happened, but its always nice to give them a heads up...

Anyway, see you next time!

For your Amusement:

Never miss when trying to take a selfie with someone.

Yup.

Mullet Man?

Proverb of the Day:

I don't know who put potatoes in my pizza, but you sir/madam,

have a sick sense of humor.

*Source links for stock images are provided.

**The background music is from a personal music project in progress.

***But really though.  Give fair warning on the pepper.  Or at least apologize.

****Kudos to you if you realized how the music player's color is changing each week.