Pelau

The SEasOning

I don’t think there is a more quintessential Caribbean dish than Pelau.

This rice/meat/vegetable dish borrows elements from Spanish, African and Middle Eastern/Indian dishes. The Spanish introduced Paella into the Caribbean during their colonizing days. As the dish was passed down to slaves, indentured labourers, and other islands it began to morph into the dish we know today. Almost every island has some version of this.

The most defining characteristic of this dish is the caramelized meat that is cooked in burnt sugar. I know that sounds really strange, but it works. This is what provides a unique depth of flavour and the satisfying brown colour. You really want to use brown sugar for this dish. The extra molasses in the brown sugar is really going to help the caramelization process. If you want to have fun with this go with Demerara brown sugar.

To kick this up to god level good, don’t use boneless meat. Get yourself a good cleaver and hack up a chicken, bones and all. Bones make food taste better.

Prep and cook time is ~45 min and this will serve 4-6 people. For even better flavour marinate your meat overnight.

Ingredients

• 1/2 chicken (bone-in) cut into manageable chunks (or 4 boneless chicken thighs + 1 boneless chicken breast both cut into chunks)
• 2 tbsp Green Seasoning
• 1 tbsp dried thyme
• 5-6 dashes Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 medium onion diced
• 2 cloves garlic diced
• 2 green onions chopped
• 1/2 Scotch Bonnet pepper (sub for any hot pepper you like. Add more if you like it spicy)
• 1 cup parboiled white rice – washed and drained
• 14oz can green pigeon peas – drained and washed
• 3 medium carrots diced
• 3 stalks celery sliced into half rings
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 2 tbsp neutral oil
• 15g brown sugar
• Water
• Salt and pepper to taste

The Method

1. Combine your chicken, green seasoning, Worcestershire sauce, onion, garlic, green onion, hot pepper and thyme in a non reactive bowl. You can let it hang out while you prep the rest of the dish, or you can make this ahead and let it marinate overnight
2. Put a dutch oven to heat over medium heat and add the oil and sugar while the pot is cold. If this is your first time caramelizing sugar, you need to watch the pot like a hawk here. You want the sugar to go past the caramel stage. You want it to ALMOST turn black. Let the sugar start to smoke and turn a VERY DARK brown. It will take some time to get started over medium heat, but once the sugar starts to caramelize it can morph from dark brown with a great deep flavour to burnt and acrid extremely quickly.
3. When the sugar is at the proper colour, CAREFULLY add your chicken to the pot. Put the lid on, turn your stove up to medium high and let the chicken sauté for 1 minute. After the minute, stir the chicken in the pot to get it coated in the sugar. Be sure to scrape up all the little caramelized bits. You can add a touch of salt here to get the chicken to spring some water. Let the chicken cook for 5-10min or until its developed a nice deep brown colour and most of the liquid in the pot has dried.
4. Add your washed rice and mix it through to get the rice coated. Add enough water to cover the rice and chicken. Turn your stove to high, bring to a boil, cover the pot, then reduce the heat to medium/medium-low
5. After 10 min add the peas, carrots and celery. Stir through and replace the lid and let cook for another 10 min
6. One of the great pelau debates is wet or dry. If you like your pelau wet, skip this step. If you like your pelau dry, turn up the heat and let any excess water cook off. Make sure to stir regularly so nothing burns
7. Once at the consistency you like, stir through the butter and adjust your seasoning with salt and pepper.
8. Plate and serve. One of the more popular side dishes to go with this is a nice creamy coleslaw, or some cucumber tossed in salt and black pepper.

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