Peas n' Rice

Name: Peas n' Rice
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Nassau and the Bahamas
Ingredients: 400 g long-grain rice, rinsed; 400 g cooked pigeon peas (or 1 tin, drained); 150 g salt pork or streaky bacon, finely diced; 1 large onion, finely chopped; 2 sticks celery, finely chopped; 1 green pepper, diced; 3 cloves garlic, chopped; 3 tbsp tomato paste; 4 sprigs fresh thyme; 750 ml chicken stock or water; 1 tsp ground black pepper; 1 tsp salt, to taste; 1 goat pepper or scotch bonnet, whole, optional

The Bahamian everyday plate, pigeon peas and rice browned together with salt pork, thyme, and tomato until the grains take on a warm russet colour

Origin: Nassau and the Bahamas

From the journey of Rice.

Peas n' rice is what a Bahamian plate has on it, whatever else is beside it. Pigeon peas and rice are cooked in one pot with salt pork or bacon, onion, celery, thyme, and tomato paste, and the rice comes out warm brown rather than white, faintly smoky, and savoury enough to eat on its own. It goes with cracked conch, with fried snapper, with baked chicken, and with everything at a Sunday table. The peas are the point of the name and they are not peas. Cajanus cajan, the pigeon pea, came from South Asia by way of Africa and the slave trade and grows readily on thin dry Caribbean soil, and the same dish appears down the whole island chain: rice and peas in Jamaica made with coconut milk and kidney beans, arroz con gandules in Puerto Rico, peas and rice here. Salt pork is the Bahamian signature and it comes from the same place as the rest of the plate: a colonial provisioning economy in which preserved meat arrived by ship and everything else was grown, caught, or gathered. Browning the tomato paste in the rendered pork fat before the rice goes in is what gives the dish its colour.

Ingredients

Rice

400 g long-grain rice, rinsed

Peas

400 g cooked pigeon peas (or 1 tin, drained)

Pork

150 g salt pork or streaky bacon, finely diced

Aromatics

1 large onion, finely chopped
2 sticks celery, finely chopped
1 green pepper, diced
3 cloves garlic, chopped

Base

3 tbsp tomato paste
4 sprigs fresh thyme

Liquid

750 ml chicken stock or water

Seasoning

1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp salt, to taste
1 goat pepper or scotch bonnet, whole, optional

Method

Render the diced salt pork or bacon in a heavy pot over a medium heat for six to eight minutes until the fat has run and the pieces are browning.
Add the onion, celery, and green pepper and cook for eight minutes until soft, then the garlic for a minute more.
Stir in the tomato paste and fry it in the fat for four or five minutes, until it darkens to brick red and smells sweet rather than sharp.
Add the pigeon peas, thyme, black pepper, and the whole hot pepper if using, and stir to coat.
Pour in the stock and bring to a boil, then taste and adjust the salt.
Stir in the rinsed rice, return to a boil, then cover tightly and cook on the lowest heat for twenty-five minutes without lifting the lid.
Rest, covered, for ten minutes off the heat, then remove the thyme stalks and the whole pepper and fork through.

Notes

Pigeon peas are sold dried, frozen, and tinned in Caribbean grocers as gandules. Black-eyed peas are the usual substitute and are also traditional in some households. Jamaican rice and peas is the closest relative and differs by using coconut milk and kidney beans; the Bahamian version has no coconut. For a vegetarian pot, leave out the pork, use a good vegetable stock, and add a teaspoon of smoked paprika to replace the smokiness.

The Gastrographer

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control