Jerked Chicken with Red Bean Rice

This dish is inspired by something I saw at the Taste of Chicago. I didn't try it there, but it looks easy enough that I can try to make it.



I googled jerked chicken and found out it's pretty hard to make, so I bought pre-mixed jerk spice and used that. I also used pre-packaged red bean rice, because they're good and I'm lazy.

1.6 lb of chicken thigh (thigh because it like them more than breast, i'm a leg man)
lots of jerk spice, I probably used about 2-3 tbsp maybe more
some olive oil
a box of red bean rice
not pictured is lots of tabasco and louisiana hot sauce. I wanted some heat.



First, I chopped up the chicken to bite size. Then I added the jerk and the oil and hot sauces. I played with the chicken like play-doh. Yes, I used my hands, because that's love. After it's all nice and mixed. I threw it in the oven at 350 for 45 min.

The red bean rice, I just followed the directions on the box. half hour of water, oil and rice later that was ready.

Everything came out looking delish.





Then, the taste test. The jerk taste wasn't very strong, and I used a lot of it. The hot sauce was barely noticeable. Overall, it tasted more like chicken than jerk. Not necessary a bad thing, I like chicken but I was expecting more. With the red bean rice, the red bean rice kind of overwhelms the jerk taste. Again, not necessary bad but it didn't meet expectation. Overall it tasted good, I just expected more kick, nothing a little hot sauce couldn't fix. This actually gave me the opportunity to choose which hot sauce to use. I like Srachi, it's the best hot sauce ever. Since I have enough for a couple meals, I can try Srachi with this and other hot sauce next time.

This is an easy to make meal that is pretty good. I'll definitely try this again. Next time I'll do more research and see how to bring out the jerk taste more.

-a