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Gungo peas and rice recipe
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Gungo Peas And Recipe With Coconut Milk

The best way to cook gungo peas (pigeon peas) and rice. With coconut milk and your favourite Jamaican herbs and spices - pimento berries (allspice), thyme, scallion and scotch bonnet pepper
Course Side Dish
Cuisine Jamaican
Keyword gungo peas and rice
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Servings 6 Servings
Calories 307kcal
Author Lesa

Ingredients

  • 200 g dry gungo peas Use tinned gungo (see notes)
  • 500 g basmati rice see notes
  • 400 ml homemade coconut milk use less coconut milk if using canned (see notes)
  • 35 g chopped onion
  • 20 g chopped scallion
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 scotch bonnet pepper
  • 3 sprigs thyme
  • 5 pimento berries (allspice)
  • 1 ¼ tsp salt
  • water
  • ginger (optional)

Instructions

  • Wash the gungo peas and pour away the water. In fresh, clean water, leave to soak overnight.
  • Pour away the water. Add the gungo peas to a pot with fresh water, 1 tsp salt, garlic, pimento berries (allspice), and ginger. Cover and put to cook on medium to high heat. Cook until the peas are soft, which may take over a hour. (I would suggest using a pressure cooker to cook the peas for 30 to 45 minutes.) Check the pot every so often to make sure enough liquid to cook the beans. Add water as needed.
  • Add the coconut milk, 1/4 tsp salt, scallion, thyme, onion and scotch bonnet pepper to the pot. Cover and bring to a boil. At this point, taste to decide if you want more salt.
  • Wash the rice and add it to the pot. Stir to prevent the rice from clumping together. Add hot water so that the liquid in the pot is an inch and a half above the rice. Cover the pot, turn the heat to low, leave to steam until all the water evaporates.
  • Turn the off and let the rice sit for a few minutes. Remove the scotch bonnet pepper and serve.

Notes

  1. You only need one tin of gungo peas for this recipe. If you use dry beans, you won't need to soak or pre-cook the gungo before adding the rice. It can take over an hour before gungo peas soften. Gungo peas aren't as red kidney beans.
  2. I used basmati rice, and since basmati rice takes little water to cook, be mindful about the amount of water and coconut milk you use. Using long-grain rice, use about 300g instead of 500g.
  3. Here is why I suggest using less coconut milk when using coconut milk from a tin. Tinned coconut milk has too much of the creamy part of the coconut milk, which is also thicker than homemade coconut milk. If you use a whole tin to cook the rice (especially basmati rice), you will end up with undercooked soggy rice.

Nutrition

Serving: 300g | Calories: 307kcal | Carbohydrates: 67g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 0.2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.2g | Sodium: 489mg | Potassium: 108mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 0.2g | Vitamin A: 40IU | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 28mg | Iron: 1mg