Belizean Rice and Beans with Stewed Chicken
(Belize Rice and Beans)
Belizean rice and beans with stewed chicken is the national dish of Belize. Simple and cheap ingredients that make the dish are taken to another level by the skillful addition of various spices, with each cook making the dish a little bit different than another.
Rice and beans are sweetened with the addition of coconut cream in which the two are cooked, and the dish can be bought on numerous street corners from street-side sellers in Belize. Although rice and beans are considered a Creole dish, today it's eaten by numerous people and is a staple of Latin food.
However, it's the coconut milk and the spices that distinguish the Belizean rice and beans from the others. The other part of the dish, stewed chicken, is made with recado, an achiote-based paste that is common in Belize and the Yucatan Peninsula. Read more
The chicken is stewed and simmered in a thick gravy in order to add richness to the already flavorful meal. In a true Belizean fashion, the chicken must first be washed with lime or sour orange juice, then rinsed off with water and seasoned with recado, chili powder, black pepper, and salt.
The fragrant combination of rice, beans, and chicken is usually combined on a plate with potato salad, coleslaw, or fried plantains as a side dish, ready to satiate the appetites of numerous hungry consumers.
