Rice 'n' Peas vs Peas 'n' Rice!

~  Menu  ~

Rice ‘n’ Peas with Hot Sauce

A little Salad

a bittle of 

We spent an hour or two at the airport the other day which is much more pleasant than it sounds. A cool airy building with huge fans, chickens and cats about to talk to, a good chance of bumping into people we know and good local food to eat as we waited to see our friends off. 

Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport – to give it its full moniker.

After they left I bought a portion of rice ‘n’ peas for my lunch – really good with just salad and hot sauce.

Living here I learned to love Rice ‘n’ Peas, a seemingly simple dish of long grain rice cooked with coconut, seasoning and peas, pigeon peas are nicest.  Now, it’s a funny thing, on many islands they don’t have rice ‘n’ peas but they do a similar dish called Peas ‘n’ Rice although I don’t know if I‘d like it – fancy foreign muck! 

Here is a simple and possibly not quite authentic recipe that works for me when I’m not near the airport!

Rice ‘n’ Peas

½ tsp minced garlic

1 onion, finely chopped

1 small red chilli – deseeded and finely chopped
1 tbsp vegetable oil

400g Gungo or Pigeon Peas (or, to be frank, any dried pea or bean you fancy – Kidney Beans are often used) - drained

180 ml unsweetened coconut milk
a sprig or two of fresh thyme, if poss, or dried, if not

550g leftover rice, although it is OK to cook it specially
Salt and pepper to taste – my Caribbean Sea Salt is lovely in this

~   Cook the onion in the oil, stirring, till starting to turn golden then add the garlic and chilli and cook a few seconds more.

~   Add all the other ingredients except the cooked rice and salt & pepper.

~   Bring to a boil and simmer till the coconut milk has reduced by half.

~   Remove from the heat, stir in the rice, cover and set aside for a few minutes so that the rice can absorb the coconut milk.

~   Taste and season.

NOTE – Whilst being inauthentic I like to add half a veg Oxo to the mix

Tweetables ...

~   Rice ‘n’ Peas, a spicy Caribbean Recipe ~  rice  with coconut and pigeon peas. 
~   Rice 'n' Peas vs Peas 'n' Rice! Which do you prefer?

I do like, as I have said, to drink fabulous Spicy Hot V8 with lunch but I don’t have it with spicy food’- then I like something cool and refreshing, like this …

Cheers!

Fire Balls, Fungi Music, Moko Jumbies ~ Full Moon Party!

I REALLY DO APOLOGISE FOR MY TARDINESS IN POSTING ~ NO INTERNET IN THE BAY (where our boat is parked) FOR AGES!

~  Menu  ~

Mozzarella stuffed Fungi Cakes

Spicy Tomato Salsa

Glass of Amstel Light

Friday night was full moon and what a beauty it was.  We sat in the pointy end romantically eating our leftover pizza dinner and watching her rise and form a silver path across the sea straight to us.  Great, but …

The bay was heaving with boats, overloaded rubber dinghies full of people whooping Americanly (no offence, Americans, but many of you are a bit on the whoopy side!) criss-crossing in front of us, almost hitting each other.  Long term liveaboards like us scurrying home to their boats, hoping not to get run down.  “It’s gonna be a rough night” they say, scowling (many liveaboards are middle aged).  

Every month Trellis Bay holds a Full Moon Party and it’s pretty good, actually.  Great if you are a visitor with all sorts of interesting delights; limbo dancers, fire jugglers, live music, mocko jumbies * – I do like a nice moko jumbie, me! – and large sculptured metal balls in the sea filled with fire.

The live music can also be both pleasant and interesting especially if a fungi ** band is performing.  Unfortunately for grumpy people such as us the recorded music which fills in between live acts can be, to our old ears, crap (to use a musical term).  That rhythmic beat with indecipherable talking over it, interspersed with the relaxing sound of sirens or, possible, a guy going “Yeeeeeeeeeaaaaah” does nothing for us so after the best bit of the show we batten down the hatches and try to get engrossed in a good book.

Still, mustn’t grumble – it’s a great evening, well worth a visit you happen to be in the area.

Moko Jumbies

* Jumbies are spirits and moko jumbies are human beings dressed up and dancing (brilliantly) on high, high stilts with the purpose of mocking the spirits although I’m not sure why!

Fungi Music

** Nothing to do with mushrooms this is traditional British Virgin Island Music, sort of skiffley, using homemade instruments such as gourds, bottles, washboards etc. and usually telling a story either from folklore or real life; maybe a bit of gossip.  It is apparently a “mix up” of African and European music; the beat of Africa combined with the Waltz, 2-step etc. as overheard by slaves!!  Strange but true.

The music is, apparently, named after the traditional island dish of fungi which also has nothing to do with mushrooms and is also a “mix up”; cornmeal mush with vegetables, usually including okra, mixed into it.  Cornmeal mush (variously called polenta, fungi, milho, etc.) is a staple dish all over the world.  Down island it is called coo-coo which makes B.V. Islanders snigger as this means poo here!  On that unappetizing note here is a recipe for a particularly delicious fungi …

Fungi Recipe

4 spring onions or a small red onion

½ a red or yellow pepper

6-8 pieces of okra

1 clove garlic

2 tbsp vegetable oil

750ml water

125ml milk

170g coarse cornmeal

40g butter

salt and white pepper

~   Coarsely chop the vegetables and sauté in a saucepan in the oil till softening and browning. 
~   Remove and set aside.
~   Use a little of the water to moisten the cornmeal so that it resembled wet sand. 
~   Put the rest of the water and the milk in the pan and bring to a boil.
~   Add the cornmeal, in as much of a slow stream as you can manage with wet sand, to the pan and return to a boil, whisking. The mixture will thicken considerably, but …
~   Turn the heat down and simmer and stir constantly for about 10 minutes till thick and creamy.
~   Taste and season and stir in the cooked vegetables. 
~   Simmer for a few minutes more and serve as a side dish to something tropical – grilled fish or jerk chicken, for instance.

3 Notes on Making Polenta ...

~   I am inclined to use stock instead of water but this isn't traditional.
~   If you just want to make polenta leave out the vegetables and instead stir in a knob of butter and 30g finely grated Parmesan.
~   The moistening of the cornmeal is handy hint, told to me by a fine cook who worked with me; Cardella.  It stops the cornmeal clumping and makes for a smooth polenta/fungi/coo-coo or whatever.

And so to lunch …

Cold leftover fungi is delicious fried – for lunch I rolled cold fungi into balls and stuffed them with a nugget of mozzarella.  Flattened into cakes, coated in cornmeal and fried to crisp they made a fine lunch together with some spicy tomato salsa and a refreshing glass of beer

See here for lots more ideas for leftover polenta.