Plate 01 of 10

Rice and Beans with Stewed Chicken

Name: Rice and Beans with Stewed Chicken
Prep time: 35 min
Cook time: 90 min
Total time: 125 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Belize
Ingredients: 400 g Dried red kidney beans, soaked overnight; 1.5 L Water, for the beans; 400 ml Coconut milk, full fat; 400 g Long-grain rice, rinsed; 1 medium Onion, chopped; 6 g Fine salt; 1.5 kg Bone-in chicken pieces, thighs and drumsticks; 45 ml Recado rojo paste; 4 cloves Garlic, crushed; 1 medium Onion, chopped; 6 g Fine salt; 2 g Black pepper, freshly ground; 30 ml Neutral oil, for browning; 250 ml Water, for the stew; 2 Ripe plantains, peeled and sliced on the diagonal; 45 ml Neutral oil, for the plantain

The Sunday plate of the whole country. Red kidney beans simmered until nearly tender, then cooked into the rice with coconut milk so every grain turns rosy and stays whole. Beside it, chicken rubbed with recado rojo and garlic, browned hard and stewed in its own red gravy until it coats a spoon, with fried ripe plantain and a mound of slaw.

Prep: 35 min
Cook: 1 hr 30 min
Serves: 6
Difficulty: Medium

Researched · Kitchen testing pending

A stewed chicken leg in red-brown gravy on a plate of rice and kidney beans, with fried ripe plantain slices and cabbage and carrot slaw.

Ask anyone in Belize what they ate on Sunday and the answer is rice and beans, stew chicken, plantain and potato salad or slaw. It is the Kriol plate, served from Belize City to the cayes, and the order of the words matters: “rice and beans” is one dish cooked in one pot with coconut milk, while “beans and rice” means the two served separately.

The chicken is rubbed with recado rojo, the annatto paste that came across from the Yucatán, browned until the paste darkens and then stewed in a little water until the gravy is thick and red. Nothing else on the plate needs more than that gravy spooned over it.

Ingredients

Rice and beans
400 gDried red kidney beans, soaked overnight
1.5 LWater, for the beans
400 mlCoconut milk, full fat
400 gLong-grain rice, rinsed
1 mediumOnion, chopped
6 gFine salt
Stewed chicken
1.5 kgBone-in chicken pieces, thighs and drumsticks
45 mlRecado rojo paste
4 clovesGarlic, crushed
1 mediumOnion, chopped
6 gFine salt
2 gBlack pepper, freshly ground
30 mlNeutral oil, for browning
250 mlWater, for the stew
To serve
2Ripe plantains, peeled and sliced on the diagonal
45 mlNeutral oil, for the plantain

Recado rojo

The brick-red annatto paste of the Yucatán, sold in blocks. It seasons and colours at once; the red gravy on the chicken is the recado, not tomato. Dilute it with a spoon of water or vinegar so it rubs in evenly.

Why the beans go into the rice

Belizean rice and beans is one pot, not two. The beans are cooked first, then the rice is cooked in the bean liquor and coconut milk, so the grains take the colour and the coconut fat keeps them separate.

The five tastes on this plate

Salt is in both pots. Fat is coconut milk and the chicken's own. Acid is the slaw and the recado's vinegar. Heat is black pepper and a habanero sauce passed at the table. Umami is the browned chicken fond and the long-cooked beans.

Equipment

5 to 6-quart heavy pot with a tight lid, for the rice and beans
Wide, deep sauté pan or Dutch oven, for the chicken
Frying pan, for the plantain
Instant-read thermometer

The rice pot needs a lid that seals. Steam that escapes is rice that stays hard in the middle.

Method

Cook the beans1 hr
Drain the soaked beans, put them in the heavy pot with the 1.5 litres of fresh water and bring to a boil. Skim, lower to a simmer and cook 50 to 60 minutes until a bean crushes easily but still holds its skin. Leave them in their liquid.
Drain soaked beans; bring to a boil with 1.5 litres fresh water. Skim, then simmer 50–60 minutes until easily crushed but skins remain intact. Keep beans in their cooking liquid.
Season the chicken30 min
While the beans cook, pat the chicken dry. Rub it all over with the recado, garlic, salt, pepper and half of the second onion, working the paste under the skin where you can. Rest 30 minutes at room temperature.
While beans cook, dry chicken. Dilute recado with a spoon of water or vinegar; rub over chicken and beneath skin with garlic, salt, pepper and half the second onion. Rest 30 minutes at room temperature.
Brown and stew45 min
Heat the 30 ml oil in the sauté pan over medium-high. Brown the chicken in two batches, 4 minutes a side, until the recado darkens to mahogany. Return all the chicken, add the rest of the chopped onion and the 250 ml water, scrape the base, cover and stew over low heat 35 to 40 minutes until the meat pulls from the bone at 80 °C and the gravy coats a spoon. Uncover for the last 10 minutes if it is thin.
Heat 30 ml oil over medium-high. Brown chicken in two batches, 4 minutes per side, until mahogany. Return all chicken; add remaining onion and 250 ml water, scrape pan, cover and stew on low 35–40 minutes, to 80 °C and meat loosening from bone. Uncover the final 10 minutes if gravy is thin; it should coat a spoon.
Cook the rice into the beans25 min
Measure the bean liquid: you want 500 ml. Pour off any extra or top up with water. Add the coconut milk, the first chopped onion and the salt to the beans and bring to a boil. Stir in the rinsed rice once, cover tightly, and cook over the lowest heat 18 to 20 minutes until the liquid is gone and the grains are tender. Rest, covered, 5 minutes, then fluff gently without crushing the beans.
Adjust bean liquid to 500 ml, draining or adding water. Add coconut milk, first onion and salt; boil. Stir in rinsed rice once; cover tightly and cook on lowest heat 18–20 minutes until liquid absorbs and rice is tender. Rest covered 5 minutes; fluff without crushing beans.
Fry the plantain6 min
Heat the 45 ml oil in the frying pan over medium. Fry the plantain slices 2 to 3 minutes a side until deep gold at the edges and soft inside. Drain on paper.
Heat the 45 ml oil in the frying pan over medium. Fry the plantain slices 2 to 3 minutes a side until deep gold at the edges and soft inside. Drain on paper.
Plate
A mound of rice and beans, a piece of chicken with plenty of gravy spooned over, three or four slices of plantain, and slaw or potato salad beside.
A mound of rice and beans, a piece of chicken with plenty of gravy spooned over, three or four slices of plantain, and slaw or potato salad beside.
07
Sensory cues of doneness
- Visual: rice tinted pink-brown with whole dark red beans through it; chicken mahogany under a glossy red gravy.
- Auditory: the stew pot at a lazy blip, never a boil; plantain sizzling softly.
- Olfactory: coconut and cooked beans, annatto and garlic, caramelised plantain.
Look for pink-brown rice with intact dark-red beans and mahogany chicken in glossy red gravy. Keep the stew gently bubbling and plantains softly sizzling; expect coconut, beans, annatto, garlic and caramelised plantain aromas.

Storing it

The rice and beans and the chicken keep 3 days refrigerated in covered containers. Reheat the chicken in its gravy to a full simmer, and the rice with a splash of water, covered, until steaming through at 74 °C. Fried plantain is best the day it is made.

Troubleshooting

Rice hard in the middle, wet on top.: The lid let steam out, or the heat was too high. A tight lid over the lowest flame, and do not stir once the rice is in.
Beans burst and mushy.: Cooked too long before the rice went in. Stop when a bean crushes but still holds its skin.
Gravy thin and pale.: The chicken was not browned enough. Brown hard until the recado darkens, and finish the stew uncovered.

Substitutions

One-to-one swaps, with the technique change each one needs.

Ingredient substitutions

Ingredient	Replace with	Culinary impact and technique adjustment
Dried red kidney beans	Two 400 g cans, drained, plus 500 ml water	Skip the first step; the colour is paler
Recado rojo	1 Tbsp ground annatto with 2 tsp cumin, 1 tsp oregano and 1 Tbsp vinegar	Close in colour, a little less depth
Coconut milk	Freshly pressed coconut milk from one grated coconut	The traditional liquid, richer and less sweet

Scaling

Half

A 3-quart pot for the rice; the same timings. Brown the chicken in one batch.

Double

Two rice pots rather than one deep one, so the rice steams evenly. The chicken stews in a 7-quart Dutch oven.

What to serve it with

Cabbage and carrot slaw with a little vinegar and sugar
Potato salad, the other Sunday side
Habanero sauce on the table, and a cold Belikin or fresh lime juice

Questions

Can I use canned beans?

Yes. Two cans, drained, go in with 500 ml water and the coconut milk before the rice. The colour is lighter than with dried beans.

Where do I buy recado rojo?

Latin markets sell it as a red block or paste, sometimes labelled achiote paste. It keeps for months in the fridge.

Why does the rice turn pink?

It cooks in the liquid the beans were cooked in. That is the whole point of one pot: colour, flavour and a little of the beans' starch in every grain.