There are many places in Belize City that have great food. Local, Latin, Chinese, Indian (Hindu) and Caribbean flavors. And everyone has their place that they eat certain days of the week depending on what is on speacial. One such place that many many people enjoy going to time and time again is D's Diner.

* Austin & Yaneli Waight.

D's Diner is a very comfortable open deck diner specializing in local Rice & Beans and Stew Beans & White Rice meals with a variety of sides from shake & bake chicken to stew chicken, beef, pork, and curry chicken as it's on the menu daily as well as Beef Soup, Chicken Soup, Tipsy Cake, Chocolate Cake and Bread Pudding (dessert), & Conch Soup (seasonal).

D's Diner is located on the corner of Princess Margret Drive and Coney Drive in Belize city. Not sure where that is? It is Right across from the east end of the Karl Huesner Memorial Hospital, the MAIN hospital in Belize City. It's most definietly worth a try! Austin is usually seen sitting at his favorite table and talking to the customers joking around and making you feel 100% like family instead of customer. The food is priced low and the servings are healthy...I was full halfway through my meal but forced myself to eat everything including Bread Pudding for Dessert...lol. The way I see it you can't waste good food.

Ok, so on to the food, the reason we are here in the first place! I had Stew Beans & White Rice which is a lot different than Rice & Beans but similar. I prefer Stew Beans & White Rice over Rice & Beans( which is the beans and the juice from the beans cooked with coconut milk and rice and tends to be dry w/out gravy) but of course thats personal preference. White Rice & Stew Beans are cooked separately and requires little or no gravy as the liquid from the stew beans provides the perfect amount of 'wetness" to the rice. Ok, let me stop straying and get back to what I had.

* White Rice & Stew Beans w/ Belizean Style Curry Chicken w/ Belizean style Potatoe Salad & Fry Plantain

Now the first picture is how the food got to my table, stew beans seperately and of course "peppa saas" (pepper sauce) ....Gorgeous isn't it? (damn want some now)  after you've lusted over your meal for a second pur the beans over the rice and eat away. Like I said reasonably priced! And by reasonably priced I mean in the $10- $12 area BZD (Belize Dollars, $5 or $6 USD). Damn I really could go for a plate now...

Now, this is readily available along with rice & beans in the entire country...and it's in my honest opinion that one should NEVER  pay more than $12BZD for a plate of Rice & Beans...I don't care which fancy restaurant you eat it at. I garantee you you would probably get a bigger portion at a local spot and for MUCH  cheaper. I've been to some expensive restarants in Belize and see $20 rice and beans dinners and the portions are small...if you go to a facy restaurant please try something fancy and not rice & beans and stew chicken...you'll feel ripped off as soon as u try a local spot.

Now, back to D's Diner...If you want something a little less carbsy...we LOVE carbs in Belize, I mean where else do they consider Potatoe a vegetable? D's Diner also offers Beef Soup, Chicken Soup, and on Friday's and Saturday's only they have Cowfoot Soup & Relleno (Black Dinner, it's a soup made from black recado we'll cover that one soon) and on Tuesdays they have Escabeche which is a Mexican Onion Soup...DELICIOUS!!! Ok...RECIPE TIME!!

Stew Beans & Rice

Ingredients:

2lbs Red Kidney Beans (please not in a can, raw)

Oregano, Salt & Pepper (to taste)

Onions, Green Sweet Peppers, - 1 each

Garlic - 4 cloves

Cilantro - 1 bunch

2lbs white Rice (not brown rice it just don't taste the same)

1 cup coconut milk (yes u can use from the can this time)

Method:

1. With a pressure cooker, slow cooker, or regualar cast iron or stewing pot boil your beans til it's soft. Now depending on which you're using will determine how long to cook ur beans for. Pressure cooker is fastest, within a couple hours, slow cooker...all night, or in a regular stewing pot or cast irion pot will take all day. make sure you don't have anything planned as you will be checking the pot often to check on water level. Couple helpful tips for the long way, soak your beans for 2 hours prior to cooking, when replacing water use hot water from your faucet or have a kettle with hot boiling water. And please no burn the beans...

2. AFTER your beans have gotten soft then you add in a lil more water if it needs it, salt, pepper, garlic (only for 20 mins or it gets bitter & you'll have bitter beans), Oregano and continue cooking on medium heat.

3. chop up your onions and sweet peppers and cilantro and throw in the pot and let boil for another 20 minutes or at least until the water has gone down some and if you want a more watery stew beans add a little water.

4. While the beans is in the last 20 minute stage of it's cooking cook your rice. In a pot pour in your rice and then coconut milk and some water so that your rice has abot 1 inch of liquid over it. boil on high for about 10 mins then lower the head to low-med and let cook.

CURRY CHICKEN

Curry Paste:

Ingredients:

Chicken

Potatoes

carrots

onions

Garlic

Sweet Peppers

Carrots

Curry Powder, Tumaric, Paprika, Cayenne, Black Pepper, Cumin, Chili Powder, Grated Ginger, Flour, Chicken Consume (powder chicken stock) , Coconut Powder, salsa Casera.

Method:

1. Saute Finely Chopped onions, garlic, sweet peppers in coconut oil. Add 1/4 cup Curry Powder, 2 tbsp Tumaric, 1 tbsp Chili powder, Cayenne, Black pepper, !/4 cup chicken consume, 2 tbsp Grated ginger, Flour. Add 2 cans salsa casera make a paste, disolve 1 pack of coconut powderin 2 cups water add to paste. Dice carrots, potato and add to curry sauce.

2. Brown Chicken in a skillet and then add to curry mixture. Simmer for 2 hours, stirring occassionally.

Potato Salad

Ingredients:

Potatoe

1 can mixed vegetables

eggs

mayonnaise

salad dressing

sal & black Pepper

Method:

1. peel & boil potatoes and egg

2. in a large bowl put cooked and drained potatoes along. Shell eggs cut in half lengthway and remove egg yolk.  Chop/break up egg whites. and add to potaoes. Sprinkle salt & Black pepper to taste add mayonnaise and salad dressing (about 2 tbsp each depending how much you make) mix everthing once then take egg yolks break them up and sprinkle over the potato salad.

Now, that was my meal...don't forget I also had dessert...A Belizean favorite is Bread Pudding. Everyone (I think) in Belize loves Bread Pudding...it's something that everyone's grandma made for christmas or birthdays or whatever food gathering there was...this comes with of course Belize's Rum Sauce on top...but i won't tease you anymore...I'll let you go make it yourself...how about that?

Bread Pudding

Ingredients:

1 Pack Bread

1 can Evaporated Milk

4 Eggs

2 cups white sugar

1 tsp Cinnamon Powder

1 small box Raisins

1tsp Vanilla essence

Method:

1. Break up slices of bread. Don't matter how just break it up and put it in a bowl.

2. Wet the bread, don't soak it just wet the bread so it gets soggy

3. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl and put into a glass or metal baking pan

bake at 375F for 1 hour.

Rum Sauce

1 cup One Barrel or any Spiced Rum.

1 cup brown sugar.

Method:

1. Boil together and simmer til kinda thickish. Pour sauce over bread pudding serving....easy.

Now, if you are in Belize city you should definitely check out D's Diner, if you are planning to visit you should check them out...but if you aren't here and can't try it, then by all means try the recipe. D's Diner is opened Monday - Saturday and closed on Sunday. They open Daily from 11am to 3pm.

Tizzle Sizzles