Stew chicken with rice and beans

Ingredients

Chicken marinade

• 1whole chicken (1.6 kg), jointed into 8
• 3 tbsprecado rojo (annatto paste)
• 3 tbspwhite vinegar
• 4garlic cloves, crushed
• 1onion, grated
• 1 tspground cumin
• 1 tspdried oregano
• 1 tspblack pepper
• 2 tspsalt
• 1 tbspWorcestershire sauce

To brown and stew

• 3 tbspvegetable or coconut oil
• 2 tbspgranulated sugar (for burning)
• 1onion, sliced
• 1green sweet pepper, sliced
• 1tomato, chopped
• 1 sprigthyme
• ½habanero, whole
• 400 mlwater or light chicken stock

Rice and beans

• 300 gdried red kidney beans, soaked overnight (or 2 x 400 g tins)
• 400 mlcoconut milk
• 400 glong-grain rice, rinsed
• 1onion, chopped
• 4garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 sprigsthyme
• ½ tspblack pepper
• 2 tspsalt
• 1 tbspcoconut oil

To serve

• 2ripe plantains, sliced and fried
• Belizean coleslaw or potato salad
• habanero pepper sauce

Directions

1. Marinate at least 2 hours, ideally overnight. If using dried beans, simmer the soaked beans with the onion, garlic, thyme and 1.2 litres of water for about 1 hour until tender, keeping the dark cooking liquor — you will need 500 ml of it.
2. Taste the liquid: it should be slightly over-seasoned. Stir in the rinsed rice, bring back to a boil, then cover and cook on the lowest heat 20–22 minutes without lifting the lid.
3. Rest off the heat 10 minutes and fork through gently so the beans stay whole. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a heavy pot over medium-high heat, add the sugar and let it melt and darken to the colour of strong tea, about 2 minutes.
4. Brown hard, 4–5 minutes a side; the sugar will coat and lacquer them.
5. Add the sliced onion, sweet pepper, tomato, thyme, reserved marinade and the whole habanero, and fry 3 minutes, then pour in the water.
6. Cover and simmer 35–40 minutes, turning the pieces once, until the chicken is falling from the bone and the gravy has reduced to a thick, glossy, dark sauce that coats it.
7. Lift out the habanero before it bursts and check the seasoning. Serve the chicken and its gravy over the rice and beans, with fried plantain and coleslaw on the side.

Technique

• Belizeans distinguish sharply between ‘rice and beans’ — cooked together in coconut milk, as here — and ‘beans and rice’, where a soupy bean stew is ladled over plain white rice. This dish demands the former.
• The burnt sugar step is the technique to get right. Take it just past golden to a dark tea colour; a shade further and the whole pot turns bitter and must be started again.
• Recado rojo is a hard brick-red paste of annatto seed, oregano, cumin, black pepper, garlic and sour orange, sold in blocks throughout Belize and Yucatán. It colours as much as it flavours.
• Leave the habanero whole. Belizean stew chicken is fragrant rather than fiery, and the heat is added at the table with pepper sauce.

Substitutions

• No recado rojo: use 2 tbsp of ground annatto (or 1 tbsp paprika plus 1 tsp turmeric for colour) with extra cumin, oregano and garlic, mixed with the vinegar.
• Tinned kidney beans work: use the coconut milk plus 400 ml water in place of the bean liquor and add 1 tsp of extra salt.

Variations

• Stew beef or stew pork, made identically with the same burnt sugar and recado, is served on the same plate on other days of the week.
• For a Sunday version, some cooks add a spoon of ketchup and a splash of dark rum to the gravy in the last ten minutes.

History

Belize’s everyday plate: chicken browned in recado rojo and served over rice cooked in coconut milk with red beans, a Creole Sunday standard.

Frequently asked questions

What is Stew chicken with rice and beans?

Stew chicken with rice and beans is a main from Belize: recado-browned chicken with coconut rice and beans; national plate. Belize’s everyday plate: chicken browned in recado rojo and served over rice cooked in coconut milk with red beans, a Creole Sunday standard.

How long does Stew chicken with rice and beans take to make?

Stew chicken with rice and beans takes 30 min plus 2 hr marinating of preparation and 1 hr 15 min of cooking. The recipe makes 4 servings. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Stew chicken with rice and beans?

Yes, within limits. No recado rojo: use 2 tbsp of ground annatto (or 1 tbsp paprika plus 1 tsp turmeric for colour) with extra cumin, oregano and garlic, mixed with the vinegar. Tinned kidney beans work: use the coconut milk plus 400 ml water in place of the bean liquor and add 1 tsp of extra salt.

What is the most important thing to get right in Stew chicken with rice and beans?

Add the sliced onion, sweet pepper, tomato, thyme, reserved marinade and the whole habanero, and fry 3 minutes, then pour in the water.