Rice cooked with bhagi greens, salted pigtails and coconut milk until soft, green and full of flavour. Salt fish or salt beef can take the pigtails’ place.
Bhagi rice is rice cooked with bhagi (spinach-like greens) and salted meat in coconut milk, a quick, filling one-pot meal for any day of the week. In Trinidad, bhagi usually means chorai (amaranth) or young dasheen leaves; spinach works if that is what you can find.
Pigtails are the classic flavouring. Salt fish and salt beef are the usual alternatives, and the substitutions show how to use each one.
Wash the bhagi well, as the leaves can hold grit, and take the salt out of the meat before it goes into the pot. Then everything cooks together in about half an hour.
The recipe
Bhagi Rice with Pigtails
Prep
25 min
Cook
1 hr 15 min
Total
1 hr 40 min
Serves
6
Times and quantities are our best estimates. This recipe is still being kitchen-tested, so trust your eyes and taste as you go.
Servings
Ingredient amounts are scaled. Cooking times and pot size may need adjusting too.
Ingredients
Tick items off as you gather them.
For the pigtails
For the pot
Method
Take the salt out of the pigtails
Put the pigtails in a pot, cover with water and boil for 15 minutes. Drain.
Cover with fresh water and boil for another 20 to 25 minutes. Taste a small piece: if it is still very salty, boil once more in fresh water. Drain.
Prepare the bhagi
Strip the leaves and tender stems from the bunch and discard the tough stems. Wash in several changes of water until no grit settles in the bowl.
Drain and chop roughly.
Cook the rice
Heat the oil in a heavy pot over medium heat. Cook the onion, garlic and pimento peppers for 3 minutes until soft.
Add the green seasoning and thyme and cook for 1 minute. Add the pigtails and stir for 2 to 3 minutes.
Add the bhagi a handful at a time, stirring until it wilts, about 3 to 4 minutes in all.
Stir in the rice until coated. Pour in the coconut milk and water and add the whole pepper. The liquid should sit about ½ inch (1 cm) above the rice; the greens release water as they cook, so don't add more than that. Taste the liquid and add salt only if it needs it.
Bring to a boil, then cover tightly, turn the heat to low and cook for 25 to 30 minutes. Check at 20 minutes and add a splash of water if the bottom is catching before the rice is tender.
When the rice is tender, lift out the thyme stems and the pepper without bursting it. Season with black pepper, fork through, cover and rest for 5 minutes before serving.
Serve it with
Tomato and cucumber salad
Pepper sauce at the table
Substitutions
Salt fish instead of pigtails: soak 8 oz (225 g) boneless salt fish in cold water for a few hours, or boil it for 10 minutes and drain. Taste, and repeat if it is still very salty. Flake it, skip the pigtail steps, and stir it in with the green seasoning.
Salt beef instead of pigtails: use 1 lb (450 g), cut small, and boil it the same way as the pigtails. It may need an extra boil to become tender.
Bhagi: spinach works; add it in the last 10 minutes of cooking, as it wilts very quickly. Young dasheen leaves should be cooked until fully tender.
Storing and reheating
Cool quickly and refrigerate in a covered container; eat within 3 days.
Reheat covered with a splash of water until piping hot all the way through.
Cook's notes
Bhagi cooks down to a fraction of its raw size, so a big bunch is right.
Some cooks add diced pumpkin with the rice for sweetness.
