Pigeon Pea Rice — and Review of Caribbean Vegan
Pigeon Pea Rice is a classic Caribbean dish packed with flavor! You'll love this dish from the new book Caribbean Vegan by Taymer Mason. (vegan, soy free, nut free, gluten free)
Recipe from Caribbean Vegan © Taymer Mason, 2016. Reprinted by permission of the publisher, The Experiment. Available wherever books are sold.
Ingredients
For the Bajan Seasoning:
- 25-30 green onions
- 1 onion
- 3 or 5 garlic cloves
- 1 or 2 Scotch bonnet or habanero peppers
- juice of 2 limes or 4 key limes
- handful of fresh thyme sprigs
- handful of fresh marjoram sprigs
- 2 Tablespoons coarsely chopped parsley
- 1/3 cup distilled white vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon black pepper
- 1 Tablespoon mild paprika
- 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons pink or sea salt
- 1 teaspoon Madras curry powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
For the Pigeon Pea Rice
- 2 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 onion sliced into crescents
- 1 cup 170 g fresh, frozen, or canned pigeon peas
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Bajan seasoning see above
- bouquet garni made with a few sprigs each of thyme marjoram, and 2 green onions (tie together with a piece of cooking twine)
- pinch of mild paprika
- pinch of black pepper
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup 210 g white short grain rice, rinsed
- 1 Scotch bonnet or habanero pepper
- 1 teaspoon adobo seasoning can be found in the Latin product section at most large grocery stores
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 to 1 teaspoon pink or sea salt
- 2 garlic cloves pressed (minced)
- chopped green onions optional
Instructions
For the Bajan Seasoning
- Coarsely chop the green onions, onion, garlic, and Scotch bonnets by hand. Then put this mixture in a food processor and pulse until more finely chopped. Add the lime juice, thyme, marjoram, and parsley and pulse a few more times. Add the vinegar, black pepper, paprika, salt, curry powder, and cloves and process until medium-smooth. There should still be some texture left in the seasoning.
- Transfer to a clean jar, seal, and refrigerate. This seasoning blend will keep for as long as 1 year in the fridge.
For the Pigeon Pea Rice
- Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, peas, sliced garlic, Bajan seasoning, and bouquet garni and sauté for about 5 minutes, until the onions are tender. (This process is called "diving the peas.") Add the paprika and black pepper, then stir in the water, rice, Scotch Bonnet, adobo seasoning, onion powder, and salt. Lower the heat, cover, and simmer for 20-25 minutes, or until almost all the water has evaporated.
- Add the pressed garlic and cook for about 5 minutes more, until all of the water has been absorbed. Discard the bouquet garni. Last and adjust the salt if necessary. Garnish with optional green onions.
Notes
For the Bajan Seasoning: The seeds of hot peppers pack the most heat, so if you're sensitive to spicy foods, seed them before use, or omit the peppers altogether.
Fried Dandelions note: I omitted the Scotch bonnet peppers, as I was serving this to my kids.