Belize | Rice and Beans

I was in Belize back in 2015 for a short time and was not able to truly experience what it was like to live in the country and experience all it had to offer. With that being said, I was excited to cook a meal from Belize to make up for lost time. With a silky and sweet texture of the coconut rice and the pungent, acidity of the garlic lime chicken, this dish is not only well balanced but makes you feel like you are under palm trees on a hot day by the sea.

Ingredients Needed:

For Coconut Rice and Beans

• 1 lb. Red Kidney Beans 2 plugs Garlic (crushed)

• 1 tsp. Salt

• 1 cup Coconut Milk (either squeezed from grated coconut or bought prepared, canned, or made from powered variety)

• ½ tsp. Black pepper

• ½ tsp. Thyme

• 2 lbs. cleaned Rice

• 1 medium Onion (sliced)

• 6-8 cups of water

  1.Wash the beans, then soak beans for 4 hours, using the 6-8 cups of water. If you are using distilled water, then soaked beans only needs two hours to soften.

  2. Boil beans until tender, with the garlic, onion and pig’s tail/or salted beef or bacon pieces. Note: pre-wash the pigtail or salt beef and cut off excess fat. You can use a pressure cooker to cut down on the time.

  3. Season beans with black pepper, thyme and salt. Note: You may opt not to add the salt if you used salt beef or pigtail above.

  4. Add coconut milk. Stir and then let boil.

  Stew Chicken Ingredients

• One 4-lb chicken cut into pieces (I divided the recipe by 4 and just did 1 lb of chicken)

• lime juice to taste

• 1 clove garlic (finely minced)

• Dime size red recado (Caribbean annato paste)

• 1 tsp. teach of thyme, salt, and black pepper

• 1/4 tsp cumin

• 1 tsp. brown sugar (I used coconut sugar)

• 1 small tomato (ripe)

• 1 sliver of ginger (very small)

• Cilantro (to taste)

• 2 tablespoons finely minced onion

• 1 tablespoon finely minced green/red sweet/bell pepper.

  Stew Chicken Instructions

  Thoroughly wash the chicken.
  Coat chicken with mixture of vinegar/lime juice, recado, salt, cumin, thyme, black pepper, and cilantro.
  Heat two tablespoons of cooking oil in a pot.
  Add brown sugar, cooking until sugar melts and turns dark brown. Be careful not to burn sugar.
  Add minced garlic to pot.
  Add ginger, removing from pot when it turns brown.
  Add seasoned chicken and cook until fully browned on all sides.
  Add onion, tomato, sweet pepper, and half cup of water to pot.
  Reduce heat to medium and cover pot, allowing to simmer for approximately one hour. Add water as necessary.
  Remove from heat and serve when chicken is very tender.

Recipe by: www.Belize.com