This is a bit of a convenience meal as there’s little preparation, although it does have to cook for a whole hour. However if you’re in a rush you could always just do individual pieces of chicken, which will reduce the cooking time. You can easily modify amounts depending on people and appetites – and if you make too much, it’ll keep overnight for the next day’s lunch or dinner.
You can see virtually all the ingredients in the photo so there shouldn’t be any surprises:
Ingredients:
- Brown rice (on a weeknight we often have microwavable rice)
- 1 pepper
- 400g tinned (or ready to cook) kidney beans
- 1 whole chicken
- A jerk paste or rub (or make your own spice mix combining your favourity spices with some oil)
- coconut milk (optional)
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 180C / Gas Mark 4. Split the chicken in half (either with a big sharp knife or a good pair of scissors) and slash the chicken skin diagonally and coat the chicken in the sauce or spice mix. Put the two halves in the roasting dish, making sure the skin side is facing upwards. Cook for about an hour or until cooked through.
- Prepare your rice, depending on how you’ll be cooking it. If you’re boiling it, and expecting the chicken to be quite spicy, substitite some of the water for coconut milk to add flavour and contrast.
- While everything’s cooking, slice or dice the red pepper.
- When the chicken’s nearly ready and the rice is cooked, drain the rice and mix in the kidney beans and sliced red pepper – stir gently as you don’t want to break up the rice but you do want to warm up the beans and pepper.
- Serve up and tuck in – a fresh green salad would also be lovely on the side.
Get Up Grub 