Welcome to Belize! Another bucket-list country. I'm not a fan of how warm (OK, hot) it gets there, but my word! The pictures I have seen look stunning. Belize is home to the second largest barrier reef system in the world, and home to the only jaguar preserve in the world! Also, fun-fact, Belize's national language is English! According to Google, Belize has about 419,199 people and the capital is Belmopan. Their national dish is...
Beans and Rice!
Many Central American countries have this as their national dish. This poses a problem for me, as I can't do beans. Since we've made rice and beans as part of Brazil's meal, I decided to leave out the beans. I will make it for Handsome Husband in the future in one of the other countries. Along with rice and beans, my research said that stewed chicken is often eaten with the rice and beans. So, I opted for making stewed chicken and coconut rice. I also made Johnny Cakes, as the research said this was a staple in their cuisine. Here's what I did:
- Place the achiote paste in a gallon ziplock bag and mash it with 1 tsp of oil until it is broken up (some chunks are fine).
- Break down the chicken into parts (I did two breasts, two wings, and two thighs/drumsticks combined).
- Place the chicken pieces in the ziplock bag one or two at a time, and coat with the achiote paste mixture, and set aside.
- Put all the sliced onions in the bag and coat with the remaining achiote paste.
- Season the chicken with salt and pepper.
- Brown the chicken in 2 tsp avocado oil and set aside.
- Add vinegar, chicken broth, Worcestershire sauce and brown sugar to pan, and bring to a boil, deglazing the bottom of the pan as you go.
- Add the sliced onion to the pot, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes.
- Add the chicken pieces to the pot and simmer until the chicken is done (it took about 45 minutes for me), rotating the chicken at least twice to ensure it gets equally saucy.
- Serve with rice.
- Saute the onions and garlic in 1/2 tsp of oil (you may need more - I didn't use much) until translucent.
- Mix the rice, coconut milk, and water to the onion mixture, stir, cover, and cook for 20 minutes, or until rice is cooked.
- Serve with the chicken.
2 C gluten free flour
- Mix flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Add the butter and mix with fingertips to obtain a sandy consistency.
- Stir in coconut milk and water and knead quickly into a smooth ball.
- Divide the dough into balls the size of golf balls, set on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and let stand 10 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Slightly flatten the balls and prick several times with a fork.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes, until slightly brown.
- Enjoy Johnny Cakes warm with butter and jam, or to mop up sauce from stewed chicken!
