Trini Pelau Recipe

Pretty much every Caribbean nation has a rice & peas dish. For Trinis, it’s pelau, a culinary marriage between Indian and African influences. The one pot dish is understandably popular since it’s easy, packed with flavor, can feed many and can accommodate meat lovers or vegetarians. While we eat pelau regularly throughout the year, it’s especially enjoyed at Carnival time. We savour it while listening to steel pan music live and we relish it while watching kiddies mas. Each person approaches their pelau slightly differently. Some of us play around a bit, using lentils or black eyed peas instead of pigeon peas. Some like it on the grainy side, others like it more moist. I suppose I prefer my pelau to be not too grainy but not too moist. I also refrain (as do my parents) from using Golden Ray margarine (a common ingredient in the dish) due to its unhealthiness. Another personal departure from typical recipes, is that I use a fish alternative to chicken, oxtail, goat and beef. If you’re bursting to know what it is, I’ll save the suspense. It’s tuna! Nope, not canned tuna but steaks of the fish. That may seem like an odd choice but it totally works. I think that tuna’s meaty, almost beefy consistency and dark colour make it a perfect pescatarian friendly candidate.

Ingredients

• 5 tablespoons brown sugar

• 2 cups parboiled rice

• 2-3 lbs of tuna (roughly about 2 steaks)

• 1 1/2 - 2 cups of fresh pigeon peas (soaked overnight) or 2 cans of brown pigeon peas

• 3 tablespoons vegetable or coconut oil

• 1/2 cup onion, chopped

• 1 sweet/green bell pepper, cored & diced

• 1/2 cup pimento pepper (flavouring pepper), minced

• 1 habanero or scotch bonnet pepper

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• 2 tablespoons parsley, chopped

• 6 leaves of chadon beni (culantro/bandhania), 4 blended & 2 extras minced

• 1 bunch of scallions (green onions), chopped

• 3 sprigs of fine leaf thyme

• 4 leaves of big leaf thyme

• 2 tablespoons ginger, minced

• 2 cups of pumpkin, cubed

• 2 tablespoons salt

• 2 cups coconut milk (unsweetned, not coconut cream)

• 3 cups water

• 1/4 cup tomato ketchup

Method

• Wash thyme, scallion, chadon beni & blend to a soupy texture. Set aside blended green seasoning

• Clean tuna with lime then marinate with blended green seasonings and set aside

• Heat a heavy pot and add sugar, sprinkling evenly across the bottom of the pot

• Allow sugar to caramelise until all sugar is dark brown

• Add seasoned tuna, stirring to coat thoroughly with browning

• Add onion, garlic and ginger

• Cook for 5 minutes, then remove tuna and set aside

• Drain and add pigeon peas; stir and cook for five minutes

• Add rice and combine ingredients

• Add coconut milk, pumpkin, peppers and carrots

• Add water, parsley, salt, black pepper and ketchup ; combine ingredients

• Bring to boil, then lower heat to medium

• Simmer until rice is partially cooked (about 30 minutes)

• Add extra chadon beni and add tuna back

• Steam until rice is cooked - fluffy but not mushy

• Use additional water/coconut milk if rice needs to be cooked more

  Serve with avocado, plantains, coleslaw, kuchela or pepper sauce and enjoy!