One Pot Meal
This about sums it up. A pot of seasoned rice is a go-to dish that you can make in so many ways. It’s that “it’s the end of the month and I haven’t reached the supermarket yet” kind of dish. I have had mine with frankfurters, ackee, bologna, and even just plain old vegetables.
There is one way that seasoned rice is often cooked in my kitchen and that’s with saltfish. Salted cod fish adds a nice salty flavour and is usually on hand since the salting process keeps it fresh for longer.
First I get my main ingredients together
Saltfish (slated codfish), Pumpkin. Tomatoes, Onions, Garlic, Escallion, Thyme, Pimento (all spice) and rice.
Using a small amount of cooking oil, I add the chopped Pumpkin. Tomatoes, Onions, Garlic, Escallion, Thyme and Pimento to the pot and start cooking them on a medium heat.
When softened, I add the saltfish which is flaked after being either soaked overnight or boiled until tender, along with a packet of coconut powder and a tablespoon of coconut oil.
The reason I add the coconut oil is to bump up the coconut flavour that powdered coconut milk loses when it is dehydrated. For those of you who may want to use the canned coconut milk, go ahead and add it, I usually have the powdered milk on hand so that is my go-to.
After mixing these well add the rice to the pot and stir with all other ingredients. This is similar to doing a pilaf rice. The idea is to make the rice coated with all the oil and seasonings which will help it to cook more evenly and soak the flavours. Sometimes I add a tablespoon of ketchup, just to add another level of flavour, but like many of the ingredients, that’s optional.
Once everything is combined and cooked together for 1-2 minutes, add twice the amount of water to rice (which is the ratio to cook rice) and add a scotch bonnet pepper to the pot.
Be sure not to pierce the pepper unless you are sure it is not hot. The pepper is there for flavour and not heat, so it can be taken out before the rice is finished cooking if you are concerned it will get too hot.
Cover your pot and cook on a medium flame until almost tender. When almost tender, remove your pepper, fluff the rice with a fork, turn the flame off and cover the pot to allow the steam to finish the rice.
And now enjoy!!!!
This one pot meal is a quick fix and easy to re-create with what you may have on hand.
Great for serving a large crowd of close friends as a easy inexpensive meal, and my personal favorite on a rainy day.
What seasoned rice combinations have you tried?
