JERK CHICKEN, RICE AND PEAS (SORT OF)

Having eaten jerk chicken once I am hardly an expert in what it should taste like. I figured I should get this disclaimer out of the way and add a (sort of) to the post title so there is no mistaking this post for any kind of jerk chicken authoritative knowledge.

Oh, and while I'm adding disclaimers, I know that rice and peas does not mean rice and English garden peas from the freezer but it's what I wanted and I like peas a lot more than beans and I think we have already agreed that this post is not starting from any sort of well researched knowledgeable base so I think we can let the peas go by unnoticed?

And, oh again, I've just remembered another one (the last I promise) the rice is basmati. I like it the best and it's what I keep in the house.

Right, now all that is out of the way here is a bit of background. Today all I knew was that I wanted to eat rice. That's not true, I knew other stuff today (thankfully) but the only thing I knew in relation to tonight's dinner was that rice was the way to go. Unfortunately my inspiration ended there and as I was trying to decide what to buy on my way home I trawled through a few recipe sections on my favourite blogs to see if anything jumped out. I kept pausing on promising looking recipes and then passing by for one reason or another, mostly just that they would take too long to cook, but then I paused, I read, and I found this on Gluten-Free Girl.

I read and I wrote down the ingredients and I substituted a few for things I already had and I came up with something that I am thinking of as jerk(ish) chicken.



JERK(ISH) CHICKEN
Serves two

2 chicken breasts, boneless with skin on
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon of paprika
1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons of sea salt
A generous grinding of black pepper
2 teaspoons of dried thyme
2 teaspoons of light brown sugar
1 teaspoon of honey
1 tablespoon of oil (or enough to make a thick paste)

Put the chicken breasts on a board and flatten them using a rolling pan so they are an even(ish) thickness. Mix everything (except the chicken) in a bowl and coat the chicken with the mixture. Heat a large frying pan over a medium high heat and place the chicken in the pan skin down, turn the chicken over after a few minutes. Cook for 10-15 minutes, depending on the thickness of your chicken, until it is cooked through. Serve with rice and peas.