Barbara's rice and peas

I don't care what else is on the menu for Christmas dinner, if green gungo peas and rice is not a part of it, my dinner will not be the same. I love green gungo peas and rice. (That is what I call it too).

I love a lot of green gungo in mine. Not the stingy-search-with-a-microscope type you get at restaurants. I don't want the canned gungo peas and I don't like dried gungo either. I love green gungo so much that, as a child, when it was time to shell them, I used to eat more than I shelled. My grandmother had to stop me from doing it.

So, when The Gleaner Lifestyle team members decided to each make our favourite dish for the Christmas dinner menu, the choice was easy for me. Those of you who know my style in the kitchen, know by now that I don't measure anything. I simply estimate, based on years of experience. So here is my recipe:

Ingredients

Plenty green gungo

1 medium-sized dry coconut

11/2 lbs basmatti rice

About 2 ozs ginger

1 large green scotch bonnet pepper

2 ozs margarine

4 pieces smoked turkey necks

2 healthy roots scallion

1 thick sprig thyme

2 bay leaves

About 2 dozen pimento berries

4-6 cloves garlic

Very little sea salt

Black pepper to taste

Method

1. Wash green gungo and place in a heavy, non-stick pot of cold water with the pimento berries, beat the garlic cloves and wash, peel and beat ginger. Add the turkey necks.

Bring to a boil then lower heat and allow a slow boil.

2. I usually have the coconut cut up and ready to be placed in the blender with warm water. After it has been thoroughly blended, I strain into the pot. Let boil until gungo mashes when squeezed between your fingers.

3. Add washed rice, margarine, thyme, bay leaves, salt, scallion, pepper and black pepper, then stir to make sure nothing is sticking to the pot. Taste the liquid to make sure it's OK. Then, turn flame to low and let steam cook. If you know what you are doing, you won't need to stir again until cooked; grains of rice will separate easily.

Mixed vegetable salad

Lettuce: washed and torn into tiny bits

Green cabbage: shredded

Purple cabbage: a small amount shredded to add colour

Green and yellow sweet pepper slices

Cauliflower and broccoli flowers washed and blanched

String beans cut finely, washed and blanched

Carrot washed and shredded

Oxhart tomatoes washed and segmented

1 can Lasco whole-kernel corn (my preference among local ones)

Cucumbers cut the way you like them

Toss everything except the sweet pepper rings and tomato segments that can be used to make a pretty design in your favourite salad server.

I usually add a little finely chopped garlic as well as some almond slices to my salads. Serve with your choice of dressing.

Traditional Christmas rice and peas made with green gungo by Barbara Ellington. - photos by Nashauna Drummond/Lifestyle Coordinator