Jamaica   is renowned for its rice and peas. No Sunday dinner is complete without rice and peas. It is steeped into the Jamaican Culture. Although a Jamaican may go  to a restaurant and have rice and peas every day he will get very upset if there is no rice and pea on Sunday.

There are different types of peas used including gungo but  anyone of the varieies of red peas  preferred may be used,which could also include red kidney beans.

Red peas usually take a few hours to cook but recently a friend said to me.” I just learnt a new way of cooking red peas. I learnt this from a friend who said to me. “Joy You still put peas on the fire to cook and waste all that fuel? Not me, I just cook mine over night in a thermos. I put my peas in a thermos, pour boiling water on then, cover and  leave to stand overnight and in the morning they are cooked.”

I thought that ludicrous and told her so. But not wanting to be the one who the joke was on, I decided to prove them wrong.  That Saturday night I took down my Thermos that I had not used for ages since the coming of the electric kettle and decided to try. I found that the peas,depending on the ones used may be cooked to varying tenderness based  on how hot the water was or how early in the night  they were put in the thermos. Kidney beans are one of the hardest to cook, so be guided by this.

I followed the instructions my friend’s friend gave and to my surprise in the morning the peas were indeed cooked. So there you are, get yourself a vacuum flask thermos and start cooking  your rice and peas from scratch no complaining about the time  it takes to cook, no more using of flavor less canned peas. Jamaicans like using coconut milk in their rice and peas. Most prefer the natural  coconut which they themselves grate and squeezed. But the powered coconut milk by Grace, Lasco and other Jamaican brands are good substitutes.  Here a recipe for you

Ingredients

• 1 ½  cups dried red kidney beans,
•  2 ½ cups boiling water
• cooked in vacuum thermos over night
• 2 cloves garlic, smashed
• 2 cups unsweetened coconut milk  
• 3 stalk escellion
• 1 Scotch bonnet pepper, chopped
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2 cloves
• 1 1/2 cups long grain rice  
• Salt  to taste  

• 1/4  black pepper 

 Method

 -  Place thermos cooked beans and garlic in a medium saucepan and cover. Bring to a simmer and cook, a little if needed

.- When the beans are tender, stir in the coconut milk and simmer. for 10 minutes

 -  Add escellion, scotch bonnet, cloves , thyme, and black pepper and increase the heat to a boil

-  Wash and stir in the rice, cover the pot, and cook until the rice is tender and has absorbed the liquid. Transfer to a   large serving bowl and garnish.