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Pelau

Name: Pelau
Prep time: 42 min
Total time: 1 h 52 min
Cuisine: Trinidadian
Ingredients: chicken thighs — 1400 g; green seasoning — 60 g; worcestershire sauce — 30 g; oil — 55 g; dark brown sugar — 90 g; onion — 150 g; carrot — 200 g; calabaza — 100 g; ketchup — 45 g; long grain rice — 400 g; pigeon peas — 400 g; coconut milk — 368 g; water — 500 g; scotch bonnet chillies — 5 g; salt — 10 g; fresh culantro — 15 g

Pelau reads umami 6.0, richness 5.8 and sweetness 5.3 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Trinidadian main, about 1 hr 52 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

Umami & Savory — 6.7 / 10
Sweet & Fruity — 5.9 / 10
Sour & Bright — 2.9 / 10
Bitter & Earthy — 1.9 / 10
Rich & Fat — 6.6 / 10
Aromatic & Spice — 3.4 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Umami 6.0 · Richness 5.8 · Sweetness 5.3 · Salinity 4.4 · Nutty 2.9 · Herbaceous 2.9 · Allium 2.8 · Sourness 2.7 · Heat 2.6 · Funk & Ferment 2.3 · Fruity 2.0 · Earthy 1.8 · Floral 1.7 · Bitterness 1.1

What's in it (16)

chicken thighs — 1400 g
green seasoning — 60 g
worcestershire sauce — 30 g
oil — 55 g
dark brown sugar — 90 g
onion — 150 g
carrot — 200 g
calabaza — 100 g
ketchup — 45 g
long grain rice — 400 g
pigeon peas — 400 g
coconut milk — 368 g
water — 500 g
scotch bonnet chillies — 5 g
salt — 10 g
fresh culantro — 15 g

Time & effort: about 1 hr 52 min (42 min active) · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 137.7 kcal, 7.9 g protein, 6.6 g fat, 12.4 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat · Contains dairy — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (8 steps)

Pelau is a one-pot Sunday dish and the technique that defines it is browning: sugar taken to the edge of burnt in hot oil, then meat seared in that caramel. It gives the dish its mahogany colour and a faint bitterness that balances the coconut milk. Get it wrong and the whole pot is bitter, so read the next paragraph twice before you start.
Rub the chicken with the green seasoning and Worcestershire sauce and leave it at least an hour, or overnight in the fridge.
Heat the oil in a heavy pot over medium-high heat and add the brown sugar. It will melt, foam, and turn amber, then the colour of dark treacle, and it will smell sharp — that whole sequence takes about 4 minutes and the window at the end is roughly 30 seconds wide. Past it the pot is bitter and there is no rescue.
The moment it darkens, add the drained chicken pieces and stand back — it will spit violently. Turn them in the caramel over high heat for about 6 minutes until every piece is coated a deep brown.
Add the onion, carrot, pumpkin and ketchup and cook 5 minutes.
Stir in the rice and pigeon peas and turn them through the pot for 2 minutes.
Pour in the coconut milk and water, drop in the whole scotch bonnet and add the salt. Bring to a boil, cover tightly, and cook over low heat 25 minutes.
Rest off the heat, still covered, for 10 minutes. Remove the pepper whole and unbroken, fork the rice through, and scatter the chadon beni over. It is traditionally eaten with coleslaw and a wedge of avocado.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

Turkey Meatballs in Marinara over Spaghetti Squash — Italian-American
Sichuan Dry-Fried Green Beans with Ground Pork — Chinese · Sichuan
Sheet-Pan Sweet Chili Glazed Meatballs and Vegetables — Fusion
Beef Braciole Roll-Ups with Marinara — Italian-American
Chicken Parmesan Stuffed Peppers — Italian-American

Keep reading: what umami, richness, sweetness mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.