Caribbean Peas and Rice originates here in the West Indies. Although my new friend Tay , the talented author behind Caribbean Vegan, has been schooling me that Caribbean food is so much more than rice and beans, tropical fruit and coconuts, I still find myself attracted to the more simplistic, albeit stereotypical , dishes associated with Caribbean cuisine.
This dish, Caribbean Peas and Rice, is traditionally made with pigeon peas (a type of legume), though regional variations with black-eyed peas exist due to the heavy Creole influence in the Caribbean.
Since I went for the black-eyed peas route, I also added more Creole elements to my interpretation--such as utilizing celery, a member of the "holy trinity" in Creole cuisine and adding a little tomato for complexity. I also added a bit of turmeric for color -- which I think gave the rice a stunning hue.
If you can't find Jamaican dried jerk seasoning (it's a dry spice, but not a rub -- those are salty), you can blend your own--there are plenty of recipes online and chances are you already have all the component spices in your cupboard. Mine is a mix of ginger, crushed pepper, ground pepper, garlic, onion, thyme, onion flakes, sugar and salt.
Check out this "Blooper" picture---I caught quite the reflection on my patio door!