Trini Chicken Pelau

Pelau is a Trinidadian staple. This Caribbean take on rice pilaf typically features rice, carrots, pigeon peas, coconut milk, and chicken. This pelau recipe is the perfect one pot meal!

Hey again friends 😀 Last week we made Carrot Juice, which was wonderful! But since I bought a 5lb bag of carrots (don’t judge me!), I had to think of a way to use up my leftovers. Being a true West Indian, one of the first things that came to mind was pelau.

What is pelau?

For those of you who are not familiar, pelau is a rice dish that is very popular in various parts of the Caribbean, particularly in Trinidad and Tobago. Everyone makes pelau differently, but the common ingredients are rice, meat, pigeon peas, carrots, and coconut milk (true Trini’s would also add “Golden Ray” butter to this list!). Pelau is so comforting. It’s the kind of dish you would make when you want to be reminded of home. Or if you have lots of carrots…

So let’s learn how to make Chicken Pelau! For those who have never had pelau, I guarantee you, this pelau recipe will be a new favorite. For those who have had it before, save this recipe so you don’t have to keep calling your relative for instructions!

The recipe…

Let’s talk about the beans we’ll be using in this Chicken Pelau recipe. In Jamaica, we refer to pigeon peas as “gungo peas” and we make our own rice dish with it. Of course, fresh pigeon peas are best, but I used canned peas in this recipe. You might see cans in the supermarket that say “green pigeon peas,” don’t worry, that’s the right one! The peas are actually darker than they look in the photo.

NOTE: Pigeon peas are pretty similar to lentils, but they have a nuttier flavor and are a little firmer when cooked. If you don’t have pigeon peas, lentils are a good substitute (just add them later so they don’t overcook or get mushy).

This pelau recipe calls for chicken thighs, but drumsticks will also work. Stick to dark meat chicken because it’s more flavorful and won’t dry out. Now, to make sure we are all on the same page, before we go any further with this recipe, we need to spend some time talking about seasoning chicken. In the Caribbean, we have a very particular opinion of what it means to season chicken, and it DOES NOT mean sprinkling on some salt and pepper. Nope. Not ever.

Stop under seasoning your chicken now please!

Seasoning chicken means marinating the chicken in a mixture of wet and dry spices for hours (ideally overnight). It might sound like a lot of work, but our chicken needs to be well seasoned so that it will impart all that flavor onto the dish. I’ve already posted a recipe for the Green Seasoning that we’ll be using here to season our chicken. This seasoning takes only a few minutes to make and it is a perfect marinade. We’ll also use some dry Adobo powder and Sazon for additional flavor. Depending on your household, you might have grown up with Maggi, Goya, or another brand of seasoning. Any one of them will work, just please season the chicken well!

The next thing we need to talk about is browning (which, shockingly, makes our dish brown). To make this dish properly, we have to make our own browning. It’s a really simple process of heating oil and brown sugar until the sugar dissolves and starts to caramelize. Because I’m always afraid of browning my sugar too far, I have a little cheat- I also use liquid browning in my recipe (this is the one I’ve always used). Just pour a little onto the chicken when you seasoning it to help bring color to the dish.

Since this is a one pot recipe, things come together pretty quickly. Brown your sugar and add the seasoned chicken to the pot, stirring to coat. Add pigeon peas and carrots and cook until the juices from the chicken evaporate.

Next, add your rice, room temperature coconut milk, and room temperature chicken stock. We want to use room temperature because cold liquids would create too much steam when we add them to the pot. Cook for about 30 minutes, then turn off the stove, add the salted butter, and fresh herbs, cover and let the residual heat from the stove continue cooking the rice for another 10 minutes.

Wet v. Dry Pelau…

Finally, a note on “wet” v. “dry” pelau. Those who like “wet” pelau, like their rice to be a bit moist. You can achieve this by adding more rice to the dish. I also like to steam the rice by adding some foil on top of the pot before I cover it. Don’t ask me why this works, just know every Caribbean grandma swears by it. If you’re team “dry” pelau, you like your rice to be “shelly” which in West Indian lingo means you like a flaky rice. For this pelau recipe, I achieve my dry pelau by add a little less water than my rice calls for, and turning off the pot about 10 minutes earlier and letting the rice finish cooking on the hot stove. Think of the “wet” pelau as sticky sushi rice, and the “dry” pelau as Indian or Persian rice. FYI – this recipe is more on the “dry” side. Rice is one of those finicky things that just takes time to perfect. Keep trying and you’ll make perfect rice (and perfect pelau!) every time.

These tips are all you need to make awesome Chicken Pelau recipe!

Share this recipe…

If you make this recipe, be sure to let me know by rating it and leaving a comment below. I would love to hear from you. And don’t forget to tag #sweetandsorrel on Instagram!

P.S. – I also have a step-by-step video in my Instagram highlights showing you how I made this Chicken Pelau!

Chicken Pelau Recipe

Author: Dani

4.38 from 16 votes

Chicken Pelau is a Trinidadian staple featuring rice, chicken, pigeon peas, carrots, and coconut milk. A perfect one pot meal!

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Prep Time 2 hours hrs

Cook Time 40 minutes mins

Servings 4 people

Course Main Course

Cuisine Caribbean

Ingredients

• 2 lbs chicken thighs skin and fat removed
• 2 tbsp green seasoning
• 1 packet Sazon
• 2 tbsp Adobo seasoning
• 1/2 yellow onion
• 3 stalks green onion (scallion), roughly chopped
• 1/4 tsp liquid browning optional
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 large carrot, diced (about 1/2 cup)
• 1 can green pigeon peas, rinsed and drained (or canned lentils)
• 2 cups chicken stock (more if needed)
• 2 cups long grain rice washed and strained
• 1/2 cup coconut milk room temperature
• 1 scotch bonnet pepper
• 1 tbsp neutral cooking oil (e.g. canola)
• 1 tsp Golden Ray butter (or salted butter) optional
• chopped cilantro and green onions, for garnish

Instructions 

• Prep the chicken. Thoroughly clean chicken, then remove skin and fat. We will be adding a lot of fat to this recipe, so we want to remove all the extra fat from the chicken. Add Adobo seasoning, Sazon packet, onion, green onions, and fresh green seasoning. (Click here for green seasoning recipe). For color, you can also add some liquid browning (optional). Using your hands, massage the seasoning into the chicken, making sure all the pieces are fully coated. Cover and marinate in the fridge for at least 2 hours, but preferably over night.
• Add oil to a large skillet/saute pan (that can be covered) or a large cast iron braiser over medium heat. Add brown sugar and heat until sugar starts to bubble up. Once sugar melts and turns an amber color, add chicken. Stir the chicken to ensure that it gets coated with the sugar. Chicken should be a dark brown. Cook chicken for about 10 minutes on medium high heat. Chicken will release its juices into the pot.
• Drain pigeon peas (or lentils) and rinse off any excess canned water. Add peas and diced carrots to pot. Cover and cook on medium-high until the liquid in the pot dries up.
• Rinse rice repeatedly with water until water is no longer cloudy. Drain any excess water from the rice and add to the pot. Pour in room temperature coconut milk and stir everything together. Add room temperature chicken stock and whole scotch bonnet pepper (if you leave the pepper whole, it won't add any spice to the rice). Cover and bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer.

  [NOTE: Depending on the type of pot you are using, you may have to add your liquid in intervals. You also may need to add more or less liquid depending on whether you like a wet or dry pelau. This recipe is on the dry side, so if you want a "wet" pelau, add a bit more stock (about 1/4th cup) and place some foil over pot before putting on the pot cover to allow the rice to steam.]
• Cook for 25-30 minutes, or until your rice is just a bit al dente. Then remove scotch bonnet pepper and add golden ray butter, chopped green onions, and chopped cilantro. Turn off heat. Let pot remain covered on the stove for 10 minutes to allow the residual heat to finish cooking the rice.

  [NOTE: If you are not using salted butter, add some salt to the rice]

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Keyword chicken, fried rice, peas, pelau, pelau recipe