Rinse off the kidney beans.
Soak them in the 4½ cups of water overnight along with the scallion, garlic, ginger, thyme, onion and pimento berries in a medium sized saucepan
The next day, double check the water levels again. you should have 4 cups in total, if not add accordingly because the peas swell they absorb about ½ cup of the water.
Bring the pot with the peas to a boil.
Half cover the pot, reduce the heat and simmer on low for an hour (check the readiness of the peas, use your fingers, they should be easy to crush/soft) if not simmer for a further 15 minutes.
Once cooked discard the piece of ginger and thyme stems
Check your water levels, there should be 1½ cups of water left in the saucepan, you should be able to see the peas. Even if you need to drain off the water to make sure you have the amount of water stated. Do it! **this is very important*
Add the scotch bonnet, dairy free butter, coconut milk, pink salt and rice to the pot.
I also add a clump of creamed coconut too.
Bring the pot to a boil then fold the rice in so everything is combined.
Then cover the pot with saran wrap/foil (leaving a gap for air to escape then cover with the lid
Reduce the heat to low and simmer for roughly 45 minutes (check and fold the rice half way through and nearer to the finish time (cover the rice back over the same way with the cling film. It should be soft and fluffy, if it still grainy add some of water/coconut that you have on standby and leave to simmer for another 5-10 minutes).
Discard the scotch bonnet, and pimento berries (if possible) prior to serving