The Caribbean · Volume 15, Salt, Spice and the Limestone Coast
Peas and Rice
The Bahamas
Illustration
As tradition built it
Peas and Rice
The Bahamian staple
Ingredients
- 1 can, or 1 cup cooked pigeon peas
- 2 large, chopped tomato, for the sauce base
- ¼ lb, chopped salt pork or bacon
- 3 cups rice
Method
- Cook the pigeon peas down in a browned, tomato-based sauce with rendered salt pork or bacon, for a darker, savoury result.
- Serve with rice.
Notes
Quite unlike the lighter, coconut-sweetened Jamaican dish that shares almost the same name, which uses kidney beans in coconut milk rather than pigeon peas.
What a modern chef changes
Separated Rendering, Separated Rice
Method
- Render the salt pork slowly and separately, sous vide, before browning it hard in the pan, drawing out more of its fat without the risk of burning it before the rice goes in.
- Dehydrate a portion of tomato before it is worked into the browning stage, concentrating its sweetness rather than adding further liquid to the pot.
- Cook the rice separately by absorption in the seasoned stock, then fold the finished pea sauce through at the end, for grains that hold their shape rather than the softer, more stewed result the traditional one-pot method gives.