It’s hard to find any­one will­ing to ad­mit that they do not like pelau. The hearty, one-pot rice and peas dish has been well-loved and per­fect­ed for gen­er­a­tions. For that rea­son, we’re not go­ing to do much ex­plain­ing. Here’s just a a great recipe for the clas­sic, com­fort meal.

PELAU

IN­GRE­DI­ENTS

2 ta­ble­spoons oil

Pot­spoon brown sug­ar

1 whole chick­en, cut, washed and sea­soned

3 cups rice

2 ta­ble­spoons gold­en ray

1 pack co­conut milk (mixed with 2 cups wa­ter)

1 car­rot, chopped

1 onion, diced

3 cloves gar­lic, minced

1 ta­ble­spoon pars­ley, fine­ly chopped

1 ta­ble­spoon chives, fine­ly chopped

1 ta­ble­spoon fine thyme, chopped

1 ta­ble­spoon pa­pri­ka

1 whole scotch bon­net pep­per

1 can green pi­geon peas

Salt, to taste

DI­REC­TIONS

1 Heat pot on medi­um-low heat.

2 Spread the sug­ar even­ly in the pot and al­low to raise. Once it starts bub­bling, stir it. When it rais­es back up, throw your chick­en in.

3 Stir to coat chick­en even­ly.

4 Turn heat to medi­um-high and al­low chick­en to cook. It’ll spring wa­ter and then be­gin to dry as it evap­o­rates.

5 Add rice to the chick­en. As the rice starts to stick to the bot­tom of the pan, add Gold­en Ray to the edges of the pot and stir.

6 Add co­conut milk, car­rots, onion, gar­lic, pa­pri­ka, thyme, chive and pep­per. Stir and cov­er for 5 min­utes.

7 Un­cov­er and taste the liq­uid. Add salt and ad­just sea­son­ing if nec­es­sary.

8 Add pi­geon peas and stir.

9 Let it cook un­til the rice is soft, about 15 min­utes.

10 Serve im­me­di­ate­ly with a side of cole slaw.