1. Season the chicken (as stated above) the night before. It helps to ?stab? the chicken pieces as well to allow the flavour of the marinade to really permeate

2. Heat the oil in a large dutch oven (?d big pot?)

3. Add sugar and allow to burn until dark brown

4. Add seasoned meat and stir until pieces are well coated with burnt sugar; brown for 5 minutes

5. Stir rice into chicken and turn often till well blended; cook for 3 minutes more

6. Add onion, scotch bonnet pepper and peas and stir fry for a few seconds (you may want to make sure to keep the pepper at the top of the pot cos if that thing bursts, well I can?t help you any further )

7. Add additional salt, pepper, coconut milk and water.

8. Bring to the boil, lower heat, cover and simmer until rice is cooked and all liquid has evaporated (about 25-30 minutes). If rice is still hard, add more liquid and continue to cook longer. Pelau can also be baked in oven (this is my preferred method). Cover pot with tin foil, place in oven and bake at 350? for 25-30 minutes, add more liquid if necessary. Preparing the rice in the oven prevents burning at the bottom, but some people love the burnt bits (we call it ?bun bun?)

9. Remove pepper before serving!!