Fiery jerk chicken with rice and peas

To my amazement this dinner was nick’s suggestion! He had been watching Nigella’s new Kitchen series on TV (something to do with the suggestive way in which she bastes her chicken breasts I’m sure!) and asked if we could look up the recipe online. Thanks to BBC iPlayer I was able go one better and watch her whip it up on one of my lunch breaks last week, and this was the result- juicy pieces of chicken crusted in a fiery chilli spice paste and tempered by the creamy, coconut softness of rice and black eyed beans. A delicious winter warmer that was just what I needed on a powder snow-coated Saturday night!

Serves 2-3 people

Ingredients (jerk chicken)

• 3 chicken breasts without the skin
• 1tsp ground all spice
• 1tsp dried thyme
• 1tsp cayenne pepper
• 1tsp ground ginger
• 1tsp ground nutmeg
• 1tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 garlic clove peeled
• 2cm piece of fresh root ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1tbsp dark muscavado sugar
• 2tbsp dark run (I used Bacardi because it was all I had lurking in the cupboard and it tasted fine)
• 2tbsp lime juice
• 2tbsp soy sauce
• 60ml cider vinegar
• 2 fresh whole red chillies, stalks removed but seeds left in (you can remove the seeds if you’re chilli-phobic)
• 1 small onion, peeled and quartered

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees centigrade
2. Put all of the ingredients except for the chicken into a food processor and whiz to a paste (you could also use a hand blender for this.)
3. Slash the chicken breasts 3-4 times each, about halfway through to let the spice paste penetrate the meat and place them in a small baking dish.
4. Pour over the paste and massage in well until the breasts are coated.
5. Bake in the oven for approx 40-50 minutes. Use the skewer test to make sure the chicken is cooked.
6. While the chicken is cooking make the rice to accompany it….

Ingredients (rice and peas)

• 1x 400gm can of black eye beans (if you can’t get those any kind of beans will do)
• 1 small onion peeled and finely chopped
• 1tsbp olive oil
• 1 red chilli de-seeded and finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
• 400gm basmati rice
• 1x 400ml can coconut milk (I used low fat)
• 600ml chicken stock
• 1 tsp chopped fresh thyme leaves
• Pinch of salt

Method

1. Drain and rinse the beans in a sieve, then heat a tbsp of olive oil in a deep heavy based saucepan which has a lid.
2. Fry the onions in the oil for 3-4 mins over a low heat until softened but not brown, then add the garlic and chilli and fry for another minute.
3. Tip in the rice and stir well to coat all the grains in the oil, then add the beans, coconut milk, stock and thyme.
4. Bring the mixture to the boil then turn down the heat, clamp on the lid and let it cook gently for approx 15 mins. Give it a little stir every now and again to check that the rice isn’t sticking. It should be ready when the stock is nearly all absorbed and the rice is tender.
5. Serve with the chicken immediately.