Seasoned Rice

 Belly Full on a Budget

Happy new year everyone, welcome to year 8 of Greedy girl cooks, has it really been that long? About two months ago I had asked on youtube suggestions of want to cook more of? Meat, specifically chicken dishes were the resounding top choice along with an interesting request to create affordable recipes. His exact words were “meals for college students”. If you ever been to college, you know how important every penny is when it comes to feeding yourself. I for one, lived on cup-o-noodles and easy mac, I gained the freshman 15 to prove it. Today’s recipe is a simple quick and flavorful dish that will have you fed for three days at least.

Nutty Rice with cashews, peanuts and coconut

"Christmas is coming"

November brings another month of recipes that would be great for thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. I have quite a few goodies in store; ham, biscuits, potatoes, lasagna, chicken, maybe duck (I’m a little afraid of the medium rare cooking requirements of duck lol). A holiday table (at least one in Jamaica) would be incomplete without a rice dish, it’s the staple side of life. So first up in this month of holiday recipes, is the rice.

Slow cooker beef bowl

"Beefy"

It’s the last recipe of the month. Next month will be all about pumpkins. For this last recipe I wanted to do a simple enough recipe, very hands off, something you can set in the night or before you head off to work and then have ready when you get home or wake up. If you don’t have a slow cooker it’s something I would recommend.

One pot chicken and rice and beans

Rotisserie revamp!

Store bought rotisserie revamp 4: Rice and peas and chicken

This recipe I really pulled out of thin air. I had a half of rotisserie in the refrigerator and you know that means dry. You could easily pop it in the microwave and make the rice separately, but I wanted to see how best I could infuse the flavors of the coconut milk and rice into the chicken. Similar to what happens when we make an arrzo con pollo. The thing that I had to be mindful of was the fact that the chicken was already fully cooked and I did not want the risk of it turning to mush.

Ackee Seasoned rice

"JAMAICAN FLAVORS"

I am finally getting really good at rice! I guess once you get the ratio you can mix and match with flavors and ingredients and still get great results. This rice is so yummy, its vegan and can totally be a complete meal for anyone who does not eat meat.

Meaty Jamaican stew peas

"JAMAICAN FLAVORS"

I am not sure if its red peas soup or the stew peas that came first. Similar to the age old question did the chicken or the egg come first. In case you are unaware stew peas is a thick version of red peas soup. They are literally the exact same thing (in my opinion), it’s just one is a thick stew served with white rice and the other is a runny soup. I always theorized that either someone left their soup on the stove too long until it became a stew and just ran with it, or someone added too much liquid that would not thicken and they just got fed up and had soup. Either way they are both Jamaican favorites and I will be making the stew in this post.

Jamaican Rice and peas

"Christmas is coming"

I am finally adding a Jamaican rice and peas recipe to the blog. Its flavorful the rice is perfectly cooked and very flavorful. It’s a staple in most households for Sunday dinner and if you eat lunch daily, it’s the side dish most served with every cooked lunch. Coconut milk, allspice, scallion’s, onions and scotch bonnet pepper are used to flavor this delicious side dish. Once you get the hang of if you are sure to make it all the time, especially for the rice lovers.

Mushroom Coconut Rice

M...eat...less

Time for some beautifully flavored rice. Today mushrooms are the veggies of choice. The rice is perfectly seasoned and perfectly cooked. Check out the video recipe to see how you can make perfect basmati rice every single time without fail.

Beef and rice stuffed pumpkin

“Pumpkin Everythang”

This is delicious beef seasoned rice baked in a sweet Jamaican pumpkin. The most beautiful pumpkin I have ever made, stuffed with rice, beef, raisins and so much flavor. It’s so easy and it looks so posh and sophisticated. This is how everyone needs to serve rice on thanksgiving. It’s such a statement. And who doesn’t love edible bowls?

Homemade Fried Chicken

"Greedy Girl Eats"

For me fried chicken is one of the hardest things to make. I feel like restaurants in Jamaica set the bar so high with how amazingly delicious their fried chicken is that the home made ones just seem to fall short. That is why I went on the quest to find the best fried chicken; one that was seasoned, spicy and would remain crispy. I found the best one in Negril and now I'm making my own.

Greedy Girl Eats: Seaview Bar and grill Negril

"Greedy Girl Eats"

The #1 spot!

This summer I was introduced to this amazing spot. We went to the Daydreams party in Negril for dream weekend. We stayed at a hotel that was not all inclusive, so we had to find our own food. This usually poses a challenge because Negril is super expensive. The same thing that will cost $300 inland will cost $600 in Negril.  But as fate would have it, a local gave our friends a tip about a very affordable and delicious spot, they shared the wealth and the rest is history.

Greedy Girl Eats: at Dukunoo Den Cafe

 "Greedy Girl Eats"

 This restaurant is quite the gem. I am very thankful for the day we landed off the plane and opted for something other than Island Grill. Their menu changes daily and everything that I’ve ever tasted from them is quite delicious, their fried chicken is no exception. On this particular day the fried chicken angels were watching over us, we rolled into the airport for a pick up at around 3:45pm and got the last two fried chicken dinners they had. Lucky!

Greedy Girl Eats: Juici Patties

"Greedy Girl Eats"

The restaurant that was once just a patty shop, has now transformed into Jamaica’s very own fast food chain; serving breakfast, lunch and early dinners.  Juici Patties (formally Juici Beef patties) now has quite an extensive menu (hence the removal of the word beef from their name). They serve eight different types of patties, jerk, fried and bbq chicken lunches, soups, porridge's, ackee, callaloo, buns, cakes and ice-cream.  It’s like these people don’t ever want you to leave their doors, there are 50 locations across Jamaica.

Greedy Girl Eats: KFC

"Greedy Girl Eats"


I know you’re wondering why on earth  a fast food restaurant on this list. But there is no way fried chicken could be reviewed and KFC not be included.  KFC in Jamaica is not like most fast food restaurants.  Jamaica should be called KFC country, I don’t think you can find a set of people who love kfc chicken more (although I’ve heard the Trinidadians are just as bad).  There are rumors that our recipe has been altered and I am inclined to believe that. The chicken taste 1000 times better than the chicken I’ve had elsewhere, especially in NY. It’s more flavorful and more seasoned.  Here in Jamaica we have three flavors original, BBQ and hot and spicy. We also have hot wings and bbq hot wings. The general meal deal comes with chicken fried and a soda.

Gready girl eats: at Claudette’s

"Greedy Girl Eats"

Don’t let the look of this place fool you. I have been driving past this cook shop for years and had not a clue what was going on in there. Thanks to my boyfriend and his love for curry goat, for introducing me to Claudette. This place is mainly a curry goat spot. I was pleasantly surprised to find out they offered fried chicken as well. On the top of spur tree hill Claudette’s is one of two curry goat hot spots. Alex’s curry goat is the other; the only difference, Alex’s is strictly goat.

Greedy girl eats: at Mega Mart

"Greedy Girl Eats"

This is the latest addition to the Mandeville lunch time scene. Mega mart is essentially a Jamaican Wal-Mart. It houses everything under one roof, pharmacy, bill payments, grocery, household items, a really great bakery and a cafeteria. Like I said in an earlier post, the sign of good food to come is a crowd.  However Mega mart does not just have any crowd, they have a long line of persons on their lunch break waiting patiently in line to get their meals. And yes I said patiently, no one is walking out or getting frustrated because of the wait, that goes to show they must really want Mega marts food.

Greedy Girl Eats: Joe Linx

"Greedy Girl Eats"

About 4 years ago we were introduced to this restaurant by my brother. For weeks he had been raving about this new restaurant that makes amazing oxtail and fried chicken. That summer every day he would wake up (mid-day) jump in the car and head straight there to get his lunch.

One evening my mother, sister and I were in the area and decided to see what the big deal was. He was absolutely right, their oxtail and fried chicken is on point. Not to mention their jerk pork, curry goat, even their goat head and belly (yes we eat that too lol) every meat these people make are spot on.

Greedy Girl Eats at: Petcom

This month I will be taking a break from the weekly cooking. We have so many weekend getaways, and excursions planned that my Saturdays normally slated for cooking are fully booked. Don’t fear however, this does not mean I won’t me making my posts twice a week. I’m dubbing this month and every December to come Greedy Girl Eats.  I will be on a quest to find the best fried chicken in Jamaica, from various locations across the island. I will culminate the month with a video post of me attempting to make my fried chicken dinner as good as the restaurants I frequent.

Pumpkin Sausage & Raisin Rice

"Pumpkin Everythang”

So here is part two of the main course, the delicious rice that stuffed my Cornish hens from last Tuesdays post.  It is very simple and delicious. The stock added an amazing rich flavor that the rice soaked right up, coupled with the sweet pumpkin, sage, sausages, raisins and veggies, it went very well stuffed in the citrusy fowl. The reason I separated the dish into two post is because this rice is a side dish all in itself, you can use it to stuff the fowl as well as serve it on the side. When stuffed in the hen the rice gets the ginger and citrus flavor imparted on it, however on its own, the sage, sausage and pumpkin flavor are more prevalent.

Dosa

Pancake Month!

pan·cake/ˈpanˌkāk/

Noun; A thin, flat cake of batter, usually fried and turned in a pan.

Until I started my research into pancakes, I had no idea what a Dosa was. In Jamaica, we are accustomed to having roti but not dosa. Most people refer to it as a south Indian-style crepe. It’s made from fermented rice, lentils, and fenugreek seeds. They come out very crispy with a nutty flavor.