Jamaican food

So there was a Jamaican restaurant we used to go to that was so good, but it is no longer open.  So to satisfy my jerk cravings I decided to take matters into my own hands.  Luckily there is an African/Carribean market a few blocks away from my house. It is a tiny market, but they had everything on my list that I was hoping to find.  

They had numerous jerk seasonings to choose from.  I went with this one:

It was good, but very spicy. We used it to marinate chicken that we grilled. We also bought a dry jerk seasoning that we used on some steak.

At the market I was also able to get kidney beans, coconut milk, plantains, and ginger beer. For the plantains I just sliced and fried in some vegetable oil.  They came out ok, but next time I would want to try a different recipe I saw where you bake the plantains with rum and sugar for a dessert.

Here is the recipe I used for the rice and beans:

Ingredients

1 (14-ounce) can light coconut milk

1/4 cup water

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 teaspoon salt

Pinch of freshly ground black pepper

3 fresh thyme sprigs

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 cup long-grain white rice (such as jasmine)

1 (15-ounce) can dark kidney beans, rinsed and drained

Preparation

Combine the first 7 ingredients (through garlic) in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, and bring to a boil. Stir in rice; reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook 20 minutes, or until all the liquid is absorbed. Remove pan from heat; remove the thyme sprigs and garlic, and discard. Gently stir in the beans. Cover and let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Overall a successful experiment! It didn't taste the same as the food I remember from the Jamaican restaurant, but it was still delicious.