St. Vincent Pelau w/ Pigtail & Chicken | Simple Pilau Recipe | Vincy Brown Rice w/ Chicken & Pigtail

Making St. Vincent Pelau with Pigtail & Chicken Wings | FULL RECIPE & INGREDIENTS BELOW!

TIMESTAMPS:
02:29 — seasoning the chicken wings & building flavor
10:34 — starting the pot
16:20 — adding the other ingredients
25:08 — making "carrot salad"
26:25 — serving the pelau.. & a taste test!

✦✧✦RECIPE (based on what we used...)✦✧✦
As you can see, we are used to cooking for a crowd, so feel free to cut this recipe in half if you don't plan on making quite as much. We usually just save our leftovers for the next night.. and this pelau is just as delicious on the 2nd night.

✦OUR INGREDIENTS✦
For the Pelau:
• 4 or 5 whole pigtails, cut into pieces (we used cured pigtail so we boiled it in advance — in water with a splash of white vinegar — to remove excess salt)
• 30 chicken wing sections (drummettes & flats/middle sections)
• spices for seasoning (homemade green seasoning | minced garlic | garlic salt | black pepper | Tajin | cayenne pepper | paprika | Mrs. Dash original blend | French's yellow mustard | balsamic vinegar | lime juice)
• approx. 1/2 cup Gravy Master browning sauce
• 8-oz can tomato sauce, Spanish style (regular tomato sauce works just as well)
• 2 cans (15-oz each) green pigeon peas
• 2.5 cups of parboiled long grain rice
• several cups of boiled water on hand to add to the pot

For the Carrot Salad:
• approx. 7 carrots, shredded
• approx. 1/3 cup onion, shredded
• approx. 1/2 cup mayonnaise

✦STEPS✦

1. Prep the meat.
—If using salted/cured pigtail: Boil the pigtail in water with a splash of white vinegar to remove excess salt. You may want to boil it more than once — changing out the water for fresh water in between boils. This is also a good time to trim off any unwanted pieces of skin or fat.
—Wash up & season the chicken to your liking. You can do this in advance to allow more time for the chicken to marinate. (Remember: If you're using salted pigtail, it may add extra salt to your pot, so keep that in mind when choosing your seasonings.)

2. Start the pot.
—Add a large pot to the stove over medium-high heat. (The pot doesn't have to be giant like ours 😛).
—Add the meat to the pot with a splash of water and few splashes of Gravy Master (or your browning sauce of choice).
[If we wanted to go the authentic/traditional route of browning sugar, we would: 1) Add white or brown sugar to our empty pot over medium-high heat. 2) Stir the sugar continuously, as it begins to melt and gradually becomes darker in color... but be sure not to let it burn! 3) Once the sugar reaches the darkness of our liking, add the meat to the browned sugar and stir well to incorporate. Note: The sugar may begin to clump together as the meat initially lowers the temperature of the pot, but it will melt up again & all come together once the pot comes to a boil.]
—As the pot begins to boil, stir the meat every few minutes to make sure it starts to take on some of the brown color.

3. Add the other ingredients.
—Once the meat has reached the brownness of your liking, add in the tomato sauce and the pigeon peas. (You could also substitute in tomato paste, or mix it up by adding other peas/beans of your liking.)
—Add boiling hot water to the pot (approximately enough to cover the ingredients), and allow it to return to a rolling boil.
—Once at a rolling boil, add the rice to the pot (along with a little more water if you think you'll need it), and cover the pot to return to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat a bit to allow the pot to simmer. [Note: You don't want your heat to be too high, because you run the risk of having the water dry out too quickly, which may cause your food to stick and burn at the bottom.]
—Once you're confident that the meat is cooked completely through, you can taste the food to see if you'd like to add any other seasonings or spices to it. (We don't usually have to add any other spices once it's cooking because the seasoning from the chicken plus any leftover salt from the pigtail gives the whole pot a great flavor!)
**Optional: When the pot is almost finished cooking, you can add in other veggies and herbs, including carrots, bell peppers, parsley, etc.**

4. Cook the pelau until all of the liquid in the pot is absorbed and the rice has cooked through.
—If the liquid dries out before the rice is cooked, add a little more boiled water at a time until it's finished.
—If you find that you have excess liquid in the pot after the rice has finished cooking, you can uncover the pot and turn the heat up slightly to allow it to dry out a bit. Just be sure to stir it up occasionally to stop the bottom of the pot from burning.

5. Serve & Enjoy!


✦✧✦LINKS TO PRODUCTS✦✧✦
• Large, heavy-duty pot: https://amzn.to/3cqIFM6
• Gravy Master browning sauce: https://amzn.to/2N4MeyE
• Tajin seasoning: https://amzn.to/30zTDcn

[Some of the above links are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you decide to make a purchase.]

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