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Pelau - A tasty one
dish meal. Stewed meat with chicken or beef, rice and pigeon
peas.
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3-4 |
lbs chickens or beef,
pieces |
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2-3 |
garlic cloves,
finely chopped (garlic powder does not work for this recipe
because it burns and turns bitter) |
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1 |
teaspoon salt (more or less to taste as
ingredients like worcestershire sauce, and Maggi cube
contain salt.) |
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2 |
tablespoons oil |
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3 |
tablespoons brown sugar |
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2 |
cups long-grain rice (not instant)
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1 1/2 |
cups cooked pigeon peas |
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1/2 |
cup sweet peppers |
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3 |
cups water, and |
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1 |
Maggi chicken cubes or chicken stock
or beef stock |
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1 |
teaspoon hot pepper sauce (DO NOT use
tabasco sauce. Any hot or mild Caribbean pepper sauce is
fine., optional) (optional) or
1/2 chopped seeded scotch bonnet pepper
(DO NOT use tabasco sauce. Any hot or mild Caribbean pepper
sauce is fine.) (optional)
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1 |
tablespoon golden ray cooking margarine
(optional) |
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1 |
cup coconut milk
(optional) or water
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1 |
tablespoon Angostura bitters
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1 |
tablespoon worcestershire sauce
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Green
Seasoning Marinade
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4 |
bunches fresh chives |
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4 |
bunches fresh spanish thyme
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4 |
bunches fresh French thyme |
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1 |
bunch fresh culantro (substitute 2
bunches cilantro) |
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10 |
pimento pepper
(seeded) |
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4 |
stalks west indian celery & leaves
(local celery is different from American variety)
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Prepare Green seasoning marinade
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Put all the seasoning ingredients into your
blender or food processor and process dry or with a minimum
amount of water. Store in the fridge, in a glass jar, for up 2-3
days or longer if you add water and some vinegar Sorry I can't
offer definite measurements. I usually just eyeball this.
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Trinidadians use this all purpose mix to season
just about any kind of meat. It keeps well in the fridge and we
will generally make a fresh batch of this once a week.
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Season chicken with Angustora bitters, 5
tablespoons of green seasoning, 1/2 tsp salt and black pepper
and leave to marinate in the fridge for 1/2 hour or longer if
you have the time.
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Heat oil and golden ray in a heavy pot, add sugar
and garlic and let caramelize. Stir once or twice so that the
garlic doesn't burn.
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The sugar will go from the colour of peanut
butter to a bubbling, dark, reddish brown. When the outer edges
start to turn an even darker brown , add all the chicken to the
pot.
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Do not stir. Let the water generated by the
addtion of the chicken dry out some and give chicken a chance to
caramelize. Turn chicken and let rest again for the other side
to caramelize. Reapeat this process, turning chicken
occasionally so that it browns on all sides. If the sauce at
this point looks a little bit gooey you are on the right track.
You may need to add a few tablespoons of water during this
process if it seems that the sauce is drying out too quickly but
keep it at this thickened stage until the chicken is brown. If
your sauce is too thin and watery the chicken will not
caramelize.
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TIP: It takes a while for the sugar to get to the
dark colour you are looking for. Do not walk away while browning
the sugar. Once brown you'd be surprised how quickly it goes to
black leaving you with a bitter charred mess that dries hard and
ruins your pot and your spoon:=)No this never happened to me
before LOL.
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Don't rush this stage. Let the liquid dry out,
turning chicken occasionally so that it browns on all sides. If
water is added too soon the brown colour will wash right off.
The chicken will be too pale.
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When chicken is nice and brown about 10 mins, add
rice and turn often until well mixed. Add, sweet peppers, peas,
coconut milk and broth or Maggi cube and water. Taste at this
point and add more salt if needed.
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Bring to a boil. Cover pot. Lower heat and simmer
until rice is cooked and all the water is evaporated.
(25-30mins).
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Add more water if rice is still hard and cook for
a few more minutes.
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