Gungo Peas & Rice

When you hear "Rice & Peas", you might first think of rice with green peas. However, in Jamaican cuisine, "Peas" means something entirely different. The term does not refer to peas in the European sense, but is a collective term for legumes – meaning both beans and peas alike.

Traditionally, various varieties were used in Jamaica, depending on the region, season, and availability. The name has remained, even if the ingredients have changed in everyday life. That's why the dish is still called Rice & Peas, even when red beans or Gungo Peas end up in the pot.

In this recipe, I'll show you the classic version with Gungo Peas: earthy, aromatic, and exactly how Rice & Peas has been cooked in Jamaica for generations.

Rice & Gungo Peas Recipe

2 cups rice (e.g. Basmati or Parboiled rice)
1/2-1 cup Gungo Peas (Tropical Sun Gungo peas)
250 ml coconut milk (e.g. Grace Coconut milk powder) alternatively from a carton
1 clove garlic
1 piece ginger (thumb-sized)
1 spring onion
1 whole Scotch Bonnet Chili or Habanero

Spices
3 whole allspice berries (YARDIES Allspice)
1 tsp garlic powder
1-2 tsp salt

Preparation
Rinse the Gungo Peas and soak in enough water overnight.

Discard the soaking water and cook in enough fresh water the next day. Cook gungo peas in water for about 1 hour until soft. Reserve the cooking water and keep 3 cups (the same cups used to measure the rice). Clean the ginger and leave whole, clean the spring onion, cut off the roots and leave whole.

Pour gungo peas with coconut milk from the carton and enough of the reserved cooking water into a pot so that the total liquid amounts to 3 cups. Add spring onions, ginger, Scotch Bonnet chili (leave all ingredients whole) and all spices, bring to a boil and let simmer gently for a few minutes.

Wash the rice until the water runs clear, drain. Add the rice to the Gungo Peas in the pot, bring to a boil, reduce heat after a few minutes, put the lid on the pot and further reduce the heat. The rice should be cooked after about 20 minutes. Remove chili, spring onion, allspice and ginger before serving.

Using canned Gungo Peas

If you don't have dried Gungo Peas on hand, you can easily prepare this recipe with canned Gungo Peas. It's important to first rinse the Gungo Peas thoroughly in a sieve to remove excess salt and the canned taste. Afterwards, you can use them directly; soaking or pre-cooking is not necessary.

Since no cooking water is produced with these peas, you replace the liquid from the recipe with water or a mild vegetable broth. For this recipe, you use a total of 3 cups of liquid together with the coconut milk, exactly as in the original instructions. You add the rinsed Gungo Peas directly to the coconut milk, spices and aromatics in the pot, bring everything to a quick boil, and then proceed as described in the recipe. The taste is a little milder than with dried Gungo Peas, but still authentic and perfect for everyday use.

You can find suitable canned Gungo Peas in our shop, for example from Dunn's River

What types of Rice & Peas there are

The basic principle is always the same: Rice is cooked in coconut milk, with thyme, Scotch Bonnet, garlic and spices. The difference lies in the "peas". The most well-known variations are Rice & Kidney Beans (called Red Peas in Jamaica) or Rice & Gungo Peas.

What is the perfect side dish for Rice & Gungo Peas?

You can eat almost any Jamaican dish with Rice and Peas. It goes very well with Brown Stew Chicken (a Jamaican chicken stew with bell peppers) or with Jerk Chicken.

Rice & Peas as part of Jamaican food culture

Rice & Gungo Peas is more than just a side dish. It is part of Jamaican food culture, part of Sundays, family meals, and celebrations. When you cook this dish, you bring a piece of Jamaica directly to your plate: authentic, aromatic, and without frills.