One Pot Chicken and Rice (Trinidad Pelau)

Name: One Pot Chicken and Rice (Trinidad Pelau)
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 60 min
Total time: 90 min
Yield: 1

Published on 23/04/2022 | In By Cleo |

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- Prep Time
- 30 Minutes
- Cook Time
- 60 Minutes
- Yield
- 1
- 1

Chicken Pelau (Trinidad Chicken Pelau)

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A Dish for Hanging Out
Chicken and Rice. One pot chicken and rice (Trinidad Pelau) is one of the main dishes cooked in the Trinidad and Tobago. When it comes to a one pot meal that everyone loves, this is it. I have had this One Pot Chicken and Rice at hangouts (dinner parties) with friends. It is great to take on a day at the beach and for cooking outdoors on a woodstove or campfire. This dish is packed with lots of flavour.

Caramelized Browning (Burnt Sugar)
Traditionally, we brown sugar by caramelising it in a hot heavy bottom pot to make a browning for the meat. However, store bought browning can be used. Using a bit of soy sauce in this recipe can also add tons of flavour. I have used different methods for preparing this dish and they all work wonderfully and the food taste great.

Chicken or other Substitutes
I have substituted the chicken with other types of meat in this recipe at times. It is fine to substitute the meat but be mindful of the cooking time. You may need to precook a bit before adding to the recipe. For example, beef may require a longer cooking time.

Therefore may need to be precooked before adding starting the pelau. However, cutting beef into smaller cubes may eliminate the need for this step. If you are vegetarian, you can still prepare this dish without the meat and enjoy it with the lovely peas.

Types of Peas
The peas used in One Pot Chicken and Rice (Trinidad Pelau) can also be substituted with any other you prefer. However, pigeon peas (Gungo peas) dried or fresh goes well with this recipe. It is the standard for making this dish in Trinidad and Tobago. I have cooked this dish before using both dried and fresh peas. Whenever I use dried peas, I soak them overnight and precook them before adding them into the recipe.

Try this recipe and you will enjoy it as much as we all do. I have serve this chicken and rice dish with green salads, Coleslaw, avocado slices and other salads green salads.

Check out some other popular rice dishes:

Vegetable Fried Rice

Saffron Rice

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Ingredients

6 pieces chicken (skin removed)
1 cup cooked dried Pigeon peas (Gungo peas)
2 tbsp extra virgin coconut oil
2 tbsp dark mushroom soy sauce
1 tsp salt (to be added during cooking if needed)
1 small onion (chopped)
2 garlic cloves (chopped)
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
1 broad leaf thyme leaf (Mexican Oregano) chopped (optional)
1 tbsp chaddon beni (coriander/cilantro) chopped
650 ml water or coconut milk
2 cups long grain easy cook rice
For preparing lemon brine for chicken:
1 lemon
1 1/2 tsp salt
For seasoning chicken:
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried parsley (optional)
3/4 tsp salt

Instructions

Preparing the lemon brine:
Squeeze the juice of one lemon into a medium bowl. Leave the rinds in the bowl. Add 2 cups water to the bowl and stir in 1 tsp salt.
Place the chicken pieces in the lemon brine and set aside for at least 20 mins.
Pour off the lemon water from the chicken and season using Worcestershire sauce, salt, black pepper, paprika, garlic powder and dried parsley.
The chicken can be set aside to marinate in the refrigerator for an hour, left overnight or used right away.
Add the chopped onions, garlic and thyme leaves to the seasoned chicken and mix together.
Place a large heavy bottom saucepan over a medium-high heat.
After 2 mins add the coconut oil and allow to heat for another minute.
Add 2 tbsp dark mushroom soy sauce to the hot oil.
Add the season chicken pieces along with the onions, garlic and thyme into the saucepan with the oil and soy sauce.
Add in 2 cups of long grain easy cook rice to the sauce pan and stir to coat all of the ingredients in the soy sauce.
Stir the ingredients continuously for 2 mins to ensure that there is no sticking and that the chicken pieces and rice grains absorb the colour from the soy sauce.
Cover the saucepan and leave for a further 2 minutes to continue absorbing the colour before adding any liquid.
Remove the cover from the saucepan and add the liquid. In this recipe I used the liquid from the cooked peas (see video). However, you can use plain water, coconut milk or a mixture of coconut milk and water.
Stir to mix all of the ingredients together.
Lower the heat! On a scale of 1 to 14, lowering the heat to around 6 will be adequate for steam cooking this dish.
Cover the saucepan and allow the dish to cook for 60-75 minutes.
After 30 mins remove the cover and give the ingredients a good stir. There should be enough moisture to continue steaming the rice and the chicken pieces. Taste a bit of the rice for salt and add tsp of salt if needed.
Cover again and continue cooking.
Check every 15 minutes until done to ensure that your rice does not stick and turn the ingredients in the saucepan to allow for even cooking.
Turn off the heat when done and serve hot.
This dish goes great with a green salad, slices of avocado, Cole-slaw and much more.
Enjoy!

Servings : 4-6
Ready in : 90 Minutes
Recipe Type : Featured