I first cooked this dish a few years ago, and it’s still a family favourite of ours. Sometimes I’ll use the rum, but either way the rest of the flavours still work really well together. Even though you’re using the cheaper legs and wings of the chicken, which are the tastier pieces, it’s still important to make some cuts in the skin to let the marinade work its flavours right into the meat.

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Breakfast
Porridge or Toast

Lunch
BLT sandwich

Dinner
Caribbean style chicken with rice and black beans

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CARIBBEAN STYLE CHICKEN WITH RICE AND BLACK BEANS
Serves 2

Ingredients for the Caribbean style chicken

2 teaspoons ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
2 tablespoons runny honey
Few sprigs fresh coriander chopped
1 chilli
2 cloves garlic
1 cm piece fresh ginger, peeled
2 spring onions, trimmed and sliced
Drizzle of olive oil
2 tablespoons of rum (optional)
2 tablespoons of cider vinegar

2 chicken thighs, drumsticks and wings, skin on.
Cut a couple of slits in to the skin to help with the marinade.

Ingredients for the rice

250g rice
1/2 tin black beans
2-3 spring onion sliced
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
600ml chicken stock
1/2 a chilli
Salt and pepper
Few coriander leaves scattered

Added options ingredients
You can use frozen peas or cooked black eyed peas instead

Method

Blitz all the Caribbean chicken ingredients together, and marinade the chicken for a couple of hours in the fridge, but overnight if time allows.

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Snugly place the chicken pieces in a roasting tin and pour over the rest of the marinade. Roast for about 30-45 minutes until brown and crispy.

While the chicken is cooking, you can prepare the rice and beans.

Rinse the rice in plenty of cold water, refreshing it three times.

Drain it and tip into a large saucepan with all the remaining ingredients except for the black beans.

Season with salt and add 300ml cold water. Bring to boil.

When the rice starts to boil, turn down to a medium heat, cover and simmer on low for 10 minutes.

Add the black beans to the rice, turn it off and cover again. Leave for about five minutes until all the liquid is absorbed.

Serve the Caribbean chicken pieces with the rice and beans, then scatter over the chopped coriander leaves.