Club Recipe: Jerk chicken with rice & peas

Ingredients

• 12x Chicken thighs or drumsticks
• 1x Lime (cut into quarters)
• Hot chilli sauce for serving (optional)

For the marinade

• 1 big bunch of spring onions (roughly chopped)
• Thumb-sized piece of ginger (roughly chopped)
• 3x Cloves of garlic
• ½ A small onion
• 3x Scotch bonnet chillies (de-seeded if you'd prefer less heat)
• ½ Teaspoon dried thyme, or 1x tbsp fresh thyme leaves
• 1x Lime (juiced)
• 2x Tbsp vegetable oil
• 3x Tbsp brown sugar
• 1x Tbsp ground all spice
• 1x Tsp salt

For the rice and peas

• 200g Basmati rice
• 400g Can coconut milk
• 1x Bunch of spring onions (sliced)
• 2x Cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
• 1x Tsp ground all spice
• 2x 400g Tins of kidney beans, drained

Method

1. To make the marinade, blitz together in a food processor all the ingredients to make a puree. If you have trouble getting it to blend, try adding a little water, then keep turning off the blender and scrapping down the mixture from the sides and stir. Repeat this and eventually it will blend up, do not be tempted to add too much water as you want a thick marinade that holds onto the chicken
2. Taste the jerk mixture for seasoning, it should taste slightly salty but not unpleasant. You can adjust the heat if it is not spicy enough or adjust the sweetness with more brown sugar if that suits your taste. Then mix until the mixture tastes well balanced.
3. Make a few slashes in the chicken pieces and pour the marinade over the meat, rubbing in well. Cover and marinade at least for a few hours or preferably overnight
4. To cook in the oven, heat to 180c/gas mark 4. Put the chicken in a roasting tin with the lime and cook for 45 minutes until tender and cooked through
5. While the chicken is cooking, it’s time to cook the rice and peas. Rinse the rice in plenty of cold water and drain. Tip the rice into a large saucepan, add the coconut milk, spring onions, garlic and all spice and season with a little salt. Add 300ml of cold water and put on a high heat. Once the rice begins to boil, turn down to a medium/low heat, cover and cook for ten minutes. Add the kidney beans to the rice, stir and cover. Then stand the rice off the heat for five minutes until all the liquid is absorbed
6. Squeeze the roasted lime over the chicken and serve with the rice and hot sauce, if you like it extra spicy

Extra tips

• If you are not a fan of hot foods you could use a milder chilli or even leave the chilli out altogether
• This recipe works really well cooked on the BBQ, or you can follow the recipe but then remove the chicken from the oven ten minutes earlier and finish it on the grill or BBQ
• You can also cook the chicken over a slow BBQ for 30 to 40 minutes with a cover adding some wood chips to the coals for a more authentic jerk flavour

Allergens

This recipe is not suitable for vegetarians, please ensure you check the ingredients on your chilli sauce or any store brought items to make sure they are suitable for any dietary requirements.