Jerk Chicken with Coconut Rice and Peas and Pineapple Salsa
Delicious full of flavour and spice chicken with creamy rice and pineapple salsa.
Ingredients
- 8 skin on bone in chicken thighs skin slashed with a sharp knife
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp brown sugar
- juice of 2 limes plus wedges to serve
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 25g butter
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- half a fresh pineapple cut into 2cm chunks
- half a bunch of spring onions finely chopped
- 4 fresh thyme sprigs leaves picked, plus extra to serve
For the jerk marinade (see Notes to make ahead):
- 1 scotch bonnet chilli chopped (see Notes)
- 2 cloves garlic crushed
- 3cm piece of fresh ginger grated
- 0.5 tsp ground cloves
- 0.5 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 tbsp ground allspice
- 4 spring onions green parts only, chopped
- 8 fresh thyme sprigs leaves picked, plus extra to serve
- 1 tbsp olive oil
For the coconut rice:
- 350ml cold water
- 350ml coconut milk
- a pinch of salt plus extra, to taste
- 350g basmati rice
- 400g tin kidney beans rinsed and drained (see Notes)
Instructions
- See Notes to make ahead - put all the ingredients for the marinade in the small bowl of a food processor and whizz to a rough paste (or finely chop by hand). Spoon into a large glass/ceramic mixing bowl, then add the chicken, soy sauce, brown sugar and lime juice. Season well and toss to coat the chicken fully. Set aside to marinate for 1 hour, or overnight if making ahead.
- Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas mark 6. Put the marinated chicken on a large baking tray and cook for 45 minutes until golden brown and cooked through. Test by pushing a skewer into the thickest part and making sure the juices run clear.
- After the chicken has had around 20 minutes of cooking time, make the rice. Put 350ml cold water, the coconut milk and a pinch of salt in a large pan with a lid and bring up to a simmer. Add the rice and cook, covered, for 12 minutes or until the liquid has been absorbed. Stir in the kidney beans and set aside off the heat, with the lid on, for 5 to 10 minutes for the grains to fluff up. Taste to check the seasoning, and add more salt, to taste, if needed.
- Meanwhile, heat the butter and oil in a frying pan and cook the pineapple for 10 minutes until caramelised all over. Stir in the chopped green spring onions and the thyme, then set aside.
- Serve the chicken on top of the rice, sprinkled with thyme, with the pineapple salsa and lime wedges.
Notes
- Wear rubber gloves when chopping or handling scotch bonnet chillies. I wasn't able to get scotch bonnet chillies from our local supermarket, so I used a hot green finger chilli instead - it still gave a nice hot heat to the marinade.
- Make ahead – marinate the chicken overnight in the fridge, in a sealed food bag or a glass or ceramic bowl covered with cling film.
- Kidney beans – rice and peas is a classic dish from the Caribbean, where beans are called peas.
- Leftovers - we enjoyed leftovers the next night - I heated the rice in the microwave and the chicken pieces in a 160C fan oven for 15 to 20 minutes. We'd eaten all the pineapple salsa the first night between the 2 of us (it's REALLY good!), so I just made a fresh batch with the other half of the pineapple.
- This jerk chicken with coconut rice and peas and pineapple salsa recipe is easily halved if you’re cooking for less people.