Today I am sharing my recipe for Chicken Cook-Up Rice made with black-eyed peas. Cook-up Rice is a traditional Guyanese one pot meal. In Guyana traditionally, we make cook-up rice on New Year’s Eve. Guyanese around the world eat cook-up rice at midnight on New Years eve as a way to ring in the new year with prosperity. Imagine rice, peas or beans, some variety of protein or combination of protein, fresh herbs and vegetables cooked over a slow flame in a coconut milk bath.
Traditionally cook-up rice is cooked outdoors over a coal pot or wood stove. This method of cooking added a bit of smokiness to the cook-up rice, a flavor that I long for often. In versions of cook-up rice you may find meat, poultry, smoked fish, and sometimes dried shrimp. Carrots and other root vegetables are often added as well. Most Guyanese make cook-up rice on Saturdays as it is an easy, uncomplicated, comfort food and can go a far way if unexpected visitors show up at your door.
Making Bush Cook-Up in Guyana!
As children growing up in Guyana, my brother and I made many “bush cook-ups.” A bush cook-up is a variety of cook-up rice, that neighborhood children sneak off to make, often when they are left unattended by parents. I remember one such day when my mother went down to the city center to shop and left my brother and I at home with clear instructions not the leave the house. We thought it was the perfect opportunity to have a “bush cook.”
We quickly called our neighborhood friends and instructed them to bring one ingredient each for the cook-up rice. Together with a “little bit of this and a dash of that” and my mom’s best pot we made the most delicious cook-up rice over a wood fueled flame in our back yard. The pot became engulfed with flames and was completely ruined. You don’t even have to ask about the whooping we got when my mom returned home. But to be honest, it was totally worth it.
Soaking versus Not Soaking Peas
Do you soak your peas before cooking? I recently learned that soaking beans and even grains before cooking, helps to break down some of the hard to digest sugars and proteins making it easier on the gut. Since learning this I have become a soaker. before this I was definitely a throw it in the pot with some salt and pressure cook it kind of cook when it came to beans. To learn more about soaking peas and beans and tips on how to soak different kinds of beans, check out this article from spendwithpennies.com
Soaking peas and beans also helps it to cook faster, even if you soak it in boiling water, while you prep your other ingredients it will make a significant difference in the cooking time.
Prepping the chicken for the Chicken Cook-Up Rice
For the best results it is important to marinate your chicken for at least 30 minutes before cooking. When making cook-up rice I either use green seasoning as my marinade or a combination of dry herbs. For this recipe I am using dry herbs that I typical pantry staples and a few other herbs that are essential for cook-up rice. To my chicken I added, garlic powder,
Sauté and Sear the chicken first
The first step in the cooking process is to get a good sear on the chicken. This will prevent the chicken from having a boiled or “fresh” taste as Guyanese people often say. When the chicken is brown all over then you are ready to move on to the next step.
When I first started making chicken cook-up rice, I would cook my onions, garlic and tomatoes first then add the chicken. Then my mom was visiting earlier this year and when making her chicken cook-up rice, (which is amazing, by the way) she seared the chicken first. When I asked why she did it this way, she said the seasoning first made the chicken too wet and it didn’t get the sear she wanted. She actually said, “It doan [don’t] fry up good when you do it that way!” So now I do it her way and what do you know, it is way better than my way!
Two different ways to cook the Black-eyed peas
There are two different ways to cook the black eyed peas for chicken cook-up. The first is to pressure cook it separately with just some water and a pink of salt. The other is to cook it on the stove top. There is third method and that is to pressure cook it with the chicken and all the seasoning, but I don’t like the texture of the chicken when it is pressure cooked. On the stove top cook your peas until it is soft enough that you can smash it with your finger tips but try not to over cook it or it will make your cook-up rice mushy.
Adding the rice and coconut milk to the chicken cook-up rice
When the peas are cooked to my desired tenderness, I add the washed rice to the pot. Do you wash your rice? Rinsing rice not only removes debris and surface starch but it also reduces the level of naturally occurring arsenic in rice by up to 30% (according to the FDA). Read more about why it is important to rinse your rice by clicking here.
After adding the rice to the chicken and black-eyed peas, I mix everything together well and then sauté for a minute to two, stirring often to toast the rice a bit before adding the coconut milk.
Freshly homemade coconut milk is best for cook-up rice. I buy grated frozen coconut, add water, blend it and then strain for easy coconut milk. However, for a long time I couldn’t find fresh or frozen coconut and used canned coconut milk instead. For chicken cook-up rice, I dilute the canned coconut milk before using it. When used without diluting the cook-up rice gets an overly fatty flavor and is too rich with the coconut milk.
Fluffing the Chicken Cook-up Rice
When my mom makes chicken cook-up rice, she stirs the pot constantly for even cooking. I no longer make cook-up rice like this. Now, I cook the rice on a low flame, without stirring it until it is fully cooked. Then I use a fork to fluff the rice and mix everything together. Therefore creating a perfectly cooked and loose cook-up rice. If you like a softer clammy cook-up rice, mix your rice together with the pot spoon instead of the fork.
Save it for Later
The Printable Chicken Cook-Up Rice Recipe
- 11/2 lbs of boneless, skinless chicken thighs, diced into 1 inch pieces
- 1 cup dried black-eyed peas, soaked over night and drained
- 2 cups of jasmine rice, washed and drained
- 2 tablespoon of coconut oil or other oil for cooking
- 3 cups of freshly made coconut milk or
- 1 cup of canned coconut milk diluted with 2 cups of water
- 4 cups of water
- 1 small onion, diced
- 2 tomatoes, diced
- ¼ cup of fresh Asian Basil, finely chopped
- 5 cloves garlic, grated or 1 tablespoon of granulated garlic
- 1 tablespoon of dried thyme (preferably Guyanese fine leaf thyme)
- 1 tablespoon of brown sugar
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon of cassareep
- 1 teaspoon of salt or salt to taste
- In a medium bowl, add chicken, garlic or granulated garlic, cassareep, brown sugar, salt and black pepper. Then mix together well and let marinate for at least 30 mins.
- Then add coconut oil to a large stock pot on medium heat and bring up to temperature
- When the oil is hot add the marinated chicken and sauté for 10 mins or until it has a great sear and is brown on all sides
- Then add the onions and tomatoes and continue to sauté for about 3 minutes
- Next, add black-eyed peas and 4 cups of water and mix together well. Then increase the heat, cover and cook until the peas are tender enough to be crushed with your finger tips. This should take about 30 minutes
- When the peas reaches the desired tenderness and all the liquids cook down, add the rice. Mix together well, then sauté for about 2 minutes to toast the rice a little before adding the coconut milk
- Next add the coconut milk and the Asian basil, stirring the pot constantly to remove any stuck on bits from the bottom of the pot
- Continue to stir as the coconut milk comes up to a boil, then reduce the heat to the lowest possible heat, cover the pot and let it steam until the rice is completely cooked. This should take about 30 minutes.
- Then remove from the heat and fluff with a fork
- Serve your cook-up rice hot!
If you like a more soft and clammy cook-up rice, instead of fluffing the rice with a fork at the end, mix the rice together with the pot spoon.
Enjoy your cook up rice with all the trimmings.
Try these other sides that pair really well with Chicken Cook-Up Rice:
You’re appealing to my pregnancy cravings here. The best time to eat cookup is to have it hot off the stove with pepper :). Awesomeness!
Congrats on the pregnancy Saidy! Yes, hot cook-up with pepper sauce is the best. Good stuff.
Yuh kno how we Guyanese does dish out nuff nuff rice. You jus mek it look modess suh. lol
Lol Johanna. Everything in moderation… So you can go back for seconds.
Very nice …looks delish 🙂
Thanks Nicole
Love it Altee….this is the best explained cook-up recipe i have ever come across….Great work!!
Thanks Saarah. More to come.
what is Guyanese thyme and where do you buy it?
Do you have directions for how to make it without a pressure cooker? Thanks!
You would just have to cook the peas and beef until they were tender and then add other ingredients. You could also use canned peas.
Wow, awesome blog layout! How long have you been blogging for? you make blogging look easy. The overall look of your website is excellent, as well as the content!
I have read some good stuff here. Certainly
value bookmarking for revisiting. I surprise
how much attempt you put to create this kind of fantastic informative site.
Heya i am for the primary time here. I found this board and
I find It really useful & it helped me out a lot.
I am hoping to present something again and aid others such as you aided me.
adreamoftrains web hosting
I know this if off topic but I’m looking into starting my own blog and was wondering what all is required to get setup?
I’m assuming having a blog like yours would
cost a pretty penny? I’m not very web savvy so I’m not 100% sure.
Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers adreamoftrains website host
If some one desires to be updated with latest technologies therefore he must be go
to see this site and be up to date daily.
I like reading a post that will make men and women think.
Also, thank you for allowing me to comment!
Pretty nice post. I just stumbled upon your weblog and wanted to say that I have truly enjoyed browsing your blog posts.
In any case I’ll be subscribing to your rss feed
and I hope you write again very soon!
I’d like to thank you for the efforts you have put in writing this website.
I really hope to check out the same high-grade content from you later on as well.
In truth, your creative writing abilities has inspired me to get my own,
personal blog now 😉
Can I just say what a relief to uncover somebody who really knows what they are discussing on the net.
You certainly realize how to bring an issue to light and make it important.
More people ought to read this and understand this side of the story.
I can’t believe you’re not more popular since you surely have the
gift.
Hey there! I just wanted to ask if you ever have any trouble with hackers?
My last blog (wordpress) was hacked and I ended up losing many months of hard work due to no back up.
Do you have any solutions to stop hackers?
Wonderful blog! Do you have any tips and hints for aspiring writers?
I’m planning to start my own website soon but I’m a little lost on everything.
Would you recommend starting with a free platform like WordPress or go for a paid
option? There are so many choices out there that I’m completely confused ..
Any suggestions? Cheers!
I am regular visitor, how are you everybody?
This piece of writing posted at this website is truly fastidious.
I’m gone to inform my little brother, that he should also
pay a quick visit this webpage on regular basis to get updated from most up-to-date information.
That is a very good tip especially to those new to the blogosphere.
Short but very precise info… Thank you for sharing this
one. A must read article!
Amazing! This blog looks just like my old one!
It’s on a completely different topic but it has pretty much the
same layout and design. Wonderful choice of colors!
cheap flights 32hvAj4
Your way of telling the whole thing in this post is
in fact nice, every one be capable of effortlessly understand it, Thanks a lot.
cheap flights 31muvXS
Hi, just wanted to say, I loved this article. It was funny.
Keep on posting! cheap flights 2CSYEon
naturally like your web-site but you have to take a look
at the spelling on several of your posts. A number
of them are rife with spelling problems and I in finding it very troublesome to tell the truth then again I will certainly come again again.
Thank you for sharing your info. I really appreciate your efforts
and I am waiting for your further post thanks once again.
3aN8IMa cheap flights
Hello to every single one, it’s in fact a pleasant
for me to pay a visit this web page, it consists of important Information. cheap flights 32hvAj4
bookmarked!!, I love your web site! 32hvAj4 cheap flights
Wow, wonderful blog layout! How lengthy have you been running a blog for?
you make running a blog look easy. The overall glance of your site is excellent, as well as the content material!
Hey! Do you know if they make any plugins to assist with SEO?
I’m trying to get my blog to rank for some targeted
keywords but I’m not seeing very good results. If you know of any
please share. Appreciate it!
You ought to be a part of a contest for one of the highest quality websites on the
internet. I most certainly will highly recommend this
blog!
Wonderful goods from you, man. I’ve understand
your stuff previous to and you’re just too magnificent.
I really like what you have acquired here, certainly like what you’re
saying and the way in which you say it. You make it entertaining and you still care for to keep it sensible.
I can’t wait to read far more from you. This is actually a terrific website.
Good site you have here.. It’s difficult to
find good quality writing like yours nowadays. I honestly appreciate people
like you! Take care!!