Homemade Jerk Seasoning (no rice in sight KMT !!!!)
It has taken me a long time to post anything on my blog because I just have not been in the head space to do so. But let's just quickly address the foolishness of "Jerk Rice" and Sainsbury's beloved "Jamaican Jerk chicken soup". What we have to realise is if you want to eat, taste and learn to cook authentic cuisine from any part of the world we must go to the correct gatekeepers of that culture: the people. Whether it's directly (person-to-person) or indirectly (online, books written by someone of that culture). As someone who was brought up in a Jamaican family (via London) I have enjoyed the food from my parents, my aunts, uncles and grandparents. With the enjoyment of the food, I have heard stories of the past and bonded with them. Those stories and bonds can be shared to our friends and in turn we can experience food with our friends who come from all corners of the world.
I have modified this recipe slightly to accommodate my pain threshold for the scotch bonnet as well the addition of ginger. But I won't be using this to make no JERK FLIPPING RICE or JERK FLIPPING SOUP. HOWEVER, when one delves into learning any cuisine, in this case Jamaican cuisine, the ingredients individually appear often in many famous dishes known to Jamaica.
Ingredients
4-5 spring onions
Scotch bonnet (for just the signature flavour I add half with seeds. For heat I add the whole scotch bonnet. The amount always can be changed based on how hot you want it. But don't leave it totally out the flavour of the scotch bonnet is important)
Handful of Thyme
3 Garlic cloves (you can add more to taste)
1 tbsp. Vinegar
1 tbsp. Soy sauce (or you could use browning)
Knob of ginger
Pimento/Allspice (another key component to the Jerk seasoning)
Method
Place all the ingredients into a blender and blend to preferred texture
I decided to make Jerk prawns with quinoa and some salad.
I added 2 tbsp. of Jerk seasoning to 300g of prawns I cleaned and butterflied
I used a clean and sterilised jar to store the leftover Jerk seasoning.
I also took 1/2 tsp of Jerk seasoning to season some sliced halloumi and quartered onions to go with the prawns
With these, I made a mixture of red and white quinoa as an alternative to rice. However, I cooked the quinoa the same way I would cook rice: I used double the amount of water to quinoa and I do not stir it or move it at all, until the bottom catches (a technique I learned from my mum).
I grilled the prawns under the oven grill for 15-20 minutes.
To serve with the jerk food, I made a sticky sweet jerk sauces using just the jerk seasoning and Dunns River guava jam. Once I finish grilling the prawns and halloumi, I served them with quinoa with some spinach leaves
If you have time, try this recipe out. Trust me you won't regret it.
If you don't have the time to make your own Jerk seasoning from scratch, below are some authentic alternatives: