Jamaican Rice and Beans

Ingredients:

3 cups of long grain, not instant rice

1 can of tinned or 1 cup of fresh red peas (either kidney beans or pigeon peas)

5 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)

1 uncut scotch bonnet pepper (1 jalapeno pepper may be used as a substitute)

3 Scallion (spring onions may be used as a substitute)

1 tin (or one cup) of coconut milk

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of black pepper

2 sprigs of fresh thyme (2 teaspoons of dried thyme may be used as a substitute)

Directions:

*If you are using dried Kidney beans,

you will need to wash them first then put them to soak over night in 3 cups of water.

*If you are using canned Kidney beans you can skip to #3.

If you are using dried bean and have soaked them overnight proceed here.

1. Crush the garlic and add to 7 cups of water in a large pot.

2. Boil garlic and beans for 45 minutes.

3.Add the coconut milk, rice, salt, black pepper and thyme to the pot with the beans. If using canned beans add them to this mix along with 3 cups of water.

4. Crush the scallion (do not chop) and add to pot.

5. Add the uncut scotch bonnet pepper, nb - the pepper remains uncut so as to not make the rice spicy, just give it a subtle peppery flavor.

6. Simmer on low for about 40 minutes with the lid on the pot.