Friday 10 June 2016

#readcookeat recipe : Turks & Caicos Islands Peas and Rice (Deadly Deceit)


A few weeks ago, I read Jean Harrod's Deadly Deceit - click through to read my review - and was inspired by the exotic Carribean setting of the Turks & Caicos Islands. As I mentioned when I tried (and half succeeded !) a tropical mango and coconut Tropical Crunch Cake, there weren't many references to food in the book itself (or, at least, not any that I fancied trying - conch stew just didn't appeal !), but a quick google search threw up some local fayre that I knew would be a big hit with the Madhouse family. One such dish was Peas and Rice, which uses a local variety of peas called Pigeon Peas, which appear to come in a variety of colours and forms, resembling anything from yellow split peas to black-eyes beans or even brown peas. Recipes seem to say that you can use any type of dried beans, so as I had a tin of chick peas in the cupboard, I used those. It's a great family-friendly one-pot-wonder similar to paella that the whole family loved. The addition of hot dog sausages may not sound authentic, but it was actually a variation suggested on a genuine Caribbean website and nicely used up a pack of mini hotdog sausages that were lingering at the back of the fridge !


Peas and Rice


ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil
2 onions
300g bacon pieces
1/2 red pepper
1/2 green pepper
1/2 a chorizo
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 can chick peas/pigeon peas
2 cups rice
4 cups water
pack of mini hot dogs
salt, pepper, sprinkle of chilli flakes, oregano


Heat the olive oil and toss in the bacon and onion. Fry for 5 minutes, stirring.


Add the red and green peppers and fry for a few more minutes.


Throw in the chopped chorizo.


Next to go in are the mini hot dog sausages. Give it all a good stir.


Throw in the rice.


Then add the chick peas and the water.


Stir through the tomato paste and season with salt, pepper, oregano and a sprinkle of chilli flakes. (Just leave them out if you don't like spicy food or add extra if want a hefty kick.)


Leave to cook for 10 minutes (depending on the rice - check the packet for cooking times, as they vary) until the water is absorbed and the rice cooked.


Linking up to the #readcookeat challenge at Chez Maximka.


Linking up to #KitchenClearout as it used up some mini hot dog sausages.

8 comments:

  1. Very flavourful dish! And a great use of leftovers too. I still haven't set up the linky for this month, it seems I am behind everything blog-wise lately.

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  2. A good recipe. Can use it on a "not much time to cook" day. I can see already how many variatons we can try with this๐Ÿ˜‰

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    1. Definitely - great for using up the leftovers too !

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  3. I'm so making this ๐Ÿ˜ but I might sub the chickpeas for baked beans instead I have no chick

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  4. Hello Cheryl - I'm thrilled you enjoyed my novel Deadly Deceit. It makes the long hours of writing so worthwhile. Your Tropical Crunch cake sounded great, hope you will have another go. And your Peas and Rice is just the recipe for the Caribbean! Best wishes. Jean

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    Replies
    1. Thank you ! I will definitely have to try the cake again, maybe with a different flavour combination. I also have the first book in the series to read now so looking forward to filling in the background information on the characters :)

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