Pelau is a traditional rice dish from the West Indies (

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre Island, Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galant ...

Dominica Dominica, officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. It is part of the Windward Islands chain in the Lesser Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of t ...

and Caribbean countries such as

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...

Grenada Grenada is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean Sea. The southernmost of the Windward Islands, Grenada is directly south of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and about north of Trinidad and Tobago, Trinidad and the So ...

Saint Lucia Saint Lucia is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. Part of the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the island of Saint Vincent (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines), Saint Vincent ...

and the

Virgin Islands The Virgin Islands () are an archipelago between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and northeastern Caribbean Sea, geographically forming part of the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean, Caribbean islands or West Indie ...

. Its main ingredients typically include meat (usually chicken or beef), rice,

pigeon pea The pigeon pea (''Cajanus cajan'') or toor dal is a perennial legume from the family (biology), family Fabaceae native to the Eastern Hemisphere. The pigeon pea is widely cultivated in tropical and semitropical regions around the world, being com ...

s or

cowpea The cowpea (''Vigna unguiculata'') is an annual herbaceous legume from the genus '' Vigna''. Its tolerance for sandy soil and low rainfall have made it an important crop in the semiarid regions across Africa and Asia. It requires very few inpu ...

s, coconut milk and sugar. Various vegetables and optional spices can be added. Common spices used in the dish are cardamom, cloves, cumin, and coriander. The meat is caramelised in brown sugar along with onion and garlic and the other ingredients are then added one by one, resulting in a dark brown stew. An alternative preparation method is to sauté the meat, precook the rice, prepare the dish and bake it in the oven. Side dishes are optional;

coleslaw Coleslaw or cole slaw (from the Dutch term , meaning 'cabbage salad'), also widely known within North America simply as slaw, is a side dish consisting primarily of finely shredded raw cabbage with a salad dressing or condiment, commonly eithe ...

is a typical one. MISC Pelau

Pelau shares its origins with

pilaf Pilaf (), pilav or pilau () is a rice dish, or in some regions, a wheat dish, whose recipe usually involves cooking in stock or broth, adding spices, and other ingredients such as vegetables or meat, and employing some technique for achieving ...

(from Persian ''pilāw'' ), a rice dish from

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

, the

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, and Spain, with their original version of their dish,

Paella Paella (, , , , ; ) is a rice dish originally from the Valencian Community. ''Paella'' is regarded as one of the community's identifying symbols. It is one of the best-known dishes in Spanish cuisine. The dish takes its name from the wide, sha ...

. Pelau is a Creole dish. When the island was under Spanish colonial rule, Indian indentured servants passed down their version of the dish to African slaves who transformed it. The caramelisation of the meat goes back to African preparation traditions. Over the course of time, the basic method of preparing pilaf, the caramelisation of meat and influences of the Trinidadian cuisine (especially with regards to available ingredients) mingled into today's pelau.

References

External links

Video tutorial, part 1

Video tutorial, part 2

Preparation instructions
Barbadian cuisine Grenadian cuisine Meat and rice dishes Saint Kitts and Nevis cuisine Saint Lucian cuisine Saint Vincent and the Grenadines cuisine Trinidad and Tobago cuisine Indo-Caribbean cuisine

See also

References

Further reading

External links