Welcome back! On to another cuisine on which I really had very little knowledge to go off of when I first started researching. All I really knew about Jamaican food was jerk chicken – which will make an appearance today – and rice and peas, which is actually rice with kidney beans. What I ended up with was a larger cultural understanding of the often difficult history of Jamaica and how it shaped its cuisine.
I admittely had to sub two things with similar ingredients which is something I usually try to avoid (scotch bonnet peppers for habaneros and amaranth for spinach) but I kept it as close to the original as possible.
Influenced by indigenous Tainu, West African, Spanish and English cooking methods and ingredients the following dishes made it to my table!
This week’s menu (2025/08/03)
Spicy chicken with maximum flavors of allspice, thyme, aromatics, chili and citrus. Making jerk meats has a deep-seated history in Jamaica. It was traditionally grilled over a fire pit by Tainu people and this dish is still widely celebrated by Jamaicans today. Not having a fire pit to work with I had to bake my jerk chicken, but it was still delicious!
Classic Jamaican Rice and Peas – aka the dish of the night
It might sound quite basic by it’s name “rice and peas” but it is quite the opposite. Unlike the Austrian dish of rice and peas “risibisi” (which is literally just a side dish of white rice steamed with peas) this dish is packed with flavor of beans, chili, garlic, thyme, ginger, scallion and rich coconut milk. I 100% recommend it! And it’s really not difficult to make – all you need is patience and a pot.
Callaloo – with a slight adaptation
Callaloo is another one of those classic dishes that make up traditional Jamaican cooking. Made with greens that were often gathered by enslaved people to make use of the land they were working on, this dish became an affordable way to eat. In a way it reminds me of Sukuma Wiki, an East African dish made from kale. Callaloo however uses amaranth, which I couldn’t find – so I used the closest substitute – humble old spinach.
Tomato Cucumber Salad
Honestly this dish isn’t too different from other tomato cucumber salads but it was a very welcome refreshing side.
Pineapple Ginger Juice
This sweet drink uses pineapple flesh, syrup made from the pineapple skin & core, ginger, and lime to make a super sweet flavor bomb. Add some ice to it and enjoy the best pineapple juice you’ve ever had!
Gizzadas – “pinch me round” – coconut tarts
Also refferred to as as pinch-me-round this dessert really does is just what it’s called! What you make is basically a pie crust (cold butter, water and flour), roll out little balls and pinch them round to get this little star shape. You fill it all with a mix of coconut, sugar, ginger and spices and bake! So sweet and perfect for the coconut fanatics in your life. These were so easy to make and so tasty – just don’t worry about getting the shape perfect for the first few tries!
To sum it up:
What a day! Jamaica was also the first day I tried to shoot some video of me making these things, so that might show up somewhere sometime!
To me, Jamaica was an easy 8/10 – flavorful, spicy and everything had its own part to play. Mrs. W2P (my wife) was a bit more strict with a 7/10 but she was especially fond of the Rice and Peas and the Gizzadas.
Cook time was about 3 hours, that’s including prep and marinating the chicken the night before. Budget was about EUR 50 – nothing crazy and there was plenty of leftovers and ingredients I could use for future culinary trips to the Caribbean.
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