Easy Peasy Rice and Jerk Chicken Dinner

Jerk chicken is one of my favorite things to make at home and I usually make it during the week for dinner and on the weekend I throw it on the barbecue. For an easy no-fuss dinner, I rub the jerk seasoning on some chicken legs, bake them in the oven and serve over some "rice and peas". When I feel like bbq I marinade the chicken overnight and cook them in the oven first for about half an hour before grilling them.

I used to use store-bought jerk seasoning until I found the recipe online (and adjusted it). Now I always make my own jerk seasoning because it's miles better than the bottled stuff and it's just as good as (if not better than) the jerk chicken I've had in the Jamaican restaurants here in Toronto. The rub also goes really well with pork.

4 chicken leg quarters

Jerk seasoning:
1 teaspoon of allspice powder
½ teaspoon of cinnamon powder
½ teaspoon of coriander powder
¼ teaspoon of ground nutmeg
6 cloves of garlic
1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and chopped
1 onion
1-2 scotch bonnet peppers with seeds removed (or not, depending on how burn-resistant your mouth is)
2 tablespoons of rum (optional)
1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce + 1 tablespoon of light soy sauce
Juice from half a lemon
⅓ cup of water
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
1 tablespoon of thyme leaves (dried or fresh)
Salt and pepper (about ½ teaspoon of salt)

Put all the ingredients for the jerk into a food processor and blend till smooth. Pour over the chicken and mix well. Put the chicken pieces on a baking tray, cover with aluminum foil and bake in the oven at 375°F for an hour. Then take it out, take off the foil and baste the chicken. Pop it back in the oven for another 10-15 minutes, uncovered, until the top of the chicken is brown and crusty.

Jerk chicken goes best with rice and peas and I make mine with black beans and coriander. While waiting for the chicken to finish cooking, I go ahead and prepare the rice.

2½ cups of basmati or long grain rice
3 cups of water/chicken stock
1 onion, chopped
1 teaspoon of ground coriander
1 bay leaf
1 cup of canned black beans
About 1 cup of chopped coriander leaves
2 tablespoons of olive oil

Heat up the oil in a pot and saute the onions for a few minutes. Toss in the ground coriander and rice and fry for a few minutes before stirring in the water or stock, beans and bay leaf. Bring the rice to a boil. Sprinkle the chopped coriander leaves over the rice and then cover and simmer on low heat untill the rice is done, about 15 minutes.