Trinidad chicken pelau (one-pot chicken and rice)
Trinidad-style one-pot rice with chicken, beans and coconut milk, deep brown and a little sweet from caramelized sugar.
- 55 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $2.94 a serving
- 710 calories
- Good the next day
- Gluten-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1½ cups long-grain white rice
- 1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 jalapeño, seeded and minced
- 1 carrot, diced
- 2½ cups rotisserie chicken, chopped
- 1 can light coconut milk
- 1¼ cups chicken broth
- 1 tbsp ketchup
- 3 stalks green onions, sliced
From your pantry
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 710 calories, 34 g protein, 90 g carbs and 24 g fat, and costs about $2.94 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No long-grain white rice? Jasmine rice or basmati rice works.
- No kidney beans? Pinto beans or black beans work.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No chicken broth? Vegetable broth or bone broth works.
- No green onions? Chives work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the rice in a strainer until the water runs mostly clear, then rinse the beans in the same strainer.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
the onion, the garlic and jalapeño, the carrot, and chop the chicken into bite-size pieces.
Chop. Chopping means cutting food into bite-size pieces that don’t need to be neat. Keep them roughly the same size so everything cooks evenly.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are about half an inch and roughly alike, even if none of them are pretty.
Mince. Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.
How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.
Dice. Dicing means cutting food into small, even cubes, usually a quarter to half an inch across. Pieces the same size cook at the same speed, so nothing burns while the rest catches up.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are little cubes about the size of a chickpea, and they all look close to the same.
Put the oil and brown sugar in a large heavy pot over medium heat. Let it and bubble, now and then, 2 to 3 minutes, until it’s a dark amber color.
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Medium heatTimer: 2 min 30 sec
Dolly’s tip: It goes from amber to burnt in seconds. When it looks like dark maple syrup and starts to smoke a little, add the onion right away.Add the onion carefully, since it will sizzle and spit, and 3 minutes.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Medium heatTimer: 3 min
Add the garlic, jalapeño, carrot and thyme and 1 minute.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Medium heat
Add the rice and 2 minutes, until every grain is coated and .
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Brown. Browning means cooking until the outside turns brown, which is where a lot of savory flavor comes from. Give food room and time without stirring, or it steams and stays gray.
How you’ll know: The food looks brown rather than gray, and the kitchen smells toasty and savory.
Medium heat
in the coconut milk, broth, ketchup, salt, pepper, beans and chicken, turn the heat to high and .
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Cover, turn the heat to low, and cook 20 minutes, until the rice is tender and the liquid is absorbed.
Low heatTimer: 20 min
Dolly’s tip: If the rice is still firm and the pot looks dry, stir in ¼ cup of water and give it 5 more minutes.Food safety: Rotisserie chicken, deli meat, canned tuna and cooked shrimp are already cooked. Keep them cold until you use them, and heat them until steaming hot if the recipe warms them.
Take it off the heat, leave it covered 5 minutes, then fluff it with a fork and in the green onions.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Timer: 5 min
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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