Red Beans and Rice

Jamaican Style Red Beans and Rice

2 tablespoons bacon drippings plus 1 tablespoon olive oil (or 3 tablespoons olive oil)
2 cups diced onions
1 cup diced red sweet bell pepper
8 large garlic cloves, peeled and mince
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 teaspoon smoked Spanish paprika
freshly ground black pepper to taste or 1 tablespoon Aleppo pepper flakes
1 ham hock or 1 smoked turkey wing or 1 tablespoon smoked Spanish paprika
1 or 2 19 ounce cans Mae Ploy coconut milk
1 whole scotch bonnet pepper or habanero –optional
1 pound dried red beans, picked over, rinsed and drained
water as needed
1-3 tablespoons jerk rub, marinade or seasoning (the amount depends on how hot your seasoning is with Scotch Bonnet Pepper)
salt to taste
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
1 cup scallion tops, dark green parts only, thinly sliced
1 cup cilantro leaves, roughly chopped
cooked long grain rice–I used about six cups of it–measured -after- cooking

Heat bacon drippings and or olive oil over medium high heat in pressure cooker or regular pot. Add onions and sweet pepper, and cook, stirring, until the onions turn golden. Add the garlic, dried thyme, paprika and the black pepper or Aleppo pepper flakes, and continue to cook, stirring, until the onions turn brown, the peppers brown on the edges and the garlic turns golden. Add the ham hock and cook for a minute or two, turning the hock once or twice. Add the coconut milk, the optional chili pepper and the dried beans. Stir, and if necessary, add water to cover the beans with at least 2 inches of liquid above the top of the beans. (2 1/2″ to 3″ of water over the beans is better.)
Bring to a boil, cover up the pressure cooker and bring to full pressure. Turn down heat to low and cook for 40-45 minutes on high pressure. Quick release pressure, open the cooker and test the beans for doneness. The skins should split easily when you blow on them and the beans themselves should be soft and meltingly tender without falling apart when you touch them. (If you have no pressure cooker, cover beans loosely with lid, turn down heat and simmer the beans until they are done–which will take anywhere from three to five hours depending on how hot your stove is and how fresh the dried beans are. Stir now and again and add water as needed to keep the beans from sticking.)
Once you have determined that the beans are done, fish out the ham hock, add the jerk seasoning and turn the heat up on the stove. Leaving the pot uncovered, and stirring often, boil off the excess water. The sauce should reduce until it is thick and will cling to the back of a spoon without dripping off easily. Season to taste with salt and stir in the fresh thyme, scallion tops and cilantro leaves. Then, stir in the rice, until the sauce, rice and beans are completely combined.

Note–if you cook this in a pressure cooker, the ham hock may fall apart. If it does, you can fish it out in pieces. Take out the bones, skin and fat for sure, but if you want and if the meat is tender enough to shred easily, you can just stir the lean meat into the beans to make the dish even tastier. (This is the way it happened when I made the dish this time–and let me tell you, it made the beans so good that Dan said they were the best beans and rice he had ever had–and he has eaten a lot of beans and rice. You also have the added benefit of not wasting the meat.)

recipe resource here
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