Easy Trinidad Christmas Rice Recipe with Cranberries

This Christmas rice is a colorful, tasty side that pairs well with other Trinidad Christmas food.

It has all the basic ingredients of a simple fried rice plus cranberries to add some pops of sweetness.

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Ingredients and substitutions

For this recipe, you will need:

• rice: I used white jasmine rice but you can use parboiled, brown, basmati or any rice that won’t become overly mushy when mixed with veggies.
• onion: white or purple onions work great in this recipe. I used the purple ones but they lost their color.
• garlic
• ginger: adds great, subtle flavor to the Christmas rice.
• pimento pepper: common to the Caribbean, but feel free to use fresh scotch bonnet or chilis, or black pepper, cayenne or paprika.
• carrot
• bell peppers: yellow, red and green sweet peppers add festive pops of color to this holiday rice. I only had green peppers on hand here.
• cilantro: adds a great, fresh flavor to the rice.
• chadon beni: or culantro is a classic Trini herb that is used in everything. Use cilantro as a substitute if it is not available.
• cranberries: these add sweet, tart bursts of flavor to the rice and red pops of color. Substitute with raisins and sultanas if you like.
• clove
• salt
• sugar: This is optional. If you want the rice to have a slightly sweet taste, you can sprinkle a little sugar at the end while the rice is still hot.
• vegetable oil
• butter
• water

How to make Trinidad Christmas rice

Prepare the rice

Step 1: Place a large, heavy-bottomed pot on the stove on medium heat. Add water, salt and cloves and bring to a boil.

Step 2: Wash the rice a couple times until the water is no longer cloudy and runs clear.

Step 3: Add the washed rice to the boiling water.

Step 4: Cook the rice until it has completely softened. This white jasmine rice took about 12 minutes. But the time may differ depending on the rice you use.

Step 5: Strain the rice and set aside to cool completely. This can take about 15 minutes. You can fluff the rice with a fork when it is cool and remove the cloves.

Prepare the other ingredients

Step 6: Wash, peel and chop the onion and garlic. Wash, peel and grate the ginger.

Step 7: Rinse, scrape and dice the carrots. Wash, remove the seeds, and dice the pimentos and sweet peppers.

Step 8: Rinse and finely chop the herbs like cilantro (celery), and chadon beni. Wash the cranberries. You can cut them in half if you like.

Sauté the veggies

Step 9: Place a large skillet on the stove on medium heat. Allow to heat up for 1 minute. Add butter and oil to the pot.

Step 10: Toss in the chopped onion, garlic, ginger, and pimento. Stir and sauté for 30 seconds.

Step 11: Mix in the chopped carrots and salt. Cook for 1 minute.

Step 12: Add the diced sweet peppers, cilantro (celery) and chadon beni (culantro). Sauté for 1 minute.

Make Trini Christmas rice

Step 13: Add the cranberries to the vegetables. Cook for another 30 seconds.

Step 14: Add the rice and mix thoroughly with the vegetables and cranberries. Turn off the heat.

Step 15: Taste test and adjust the salt, pepper and seasoning to your preferred taste. If you want the rice a little sweeter, you can sprinkle a pinch of sugar over the rice. Serve hot alongside stewed lentils or stewed red beans, macaroni pie, baked chicken and more lunch sides.

Christmas rice recipe