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Anybody got a recipe for Jambalaya?
Posted by SweetViolet • 7/04/09 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: cooking, food, jambalaya, recipe
My late husband made a wicked pot of Jambalaya. Unfortunately, he is gone and I have moved to a country where I cannot get the Luzianne Jambalaya mix that he used as his base. I also cannot get Andouille sausage here, although I can get a decent substitute.
Does anybody have a good "from scratch" recipe for Jambalaya they'd like to share? I haven't had any since I left the States in 2003...
User Comments
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I wish I could help u. I've never done jambalaya,but I do a good gumbo -
No Jambalaya fans here??
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Here's one I used with much success.
JAMBALAYA INGREDIENTS
60g/ 2oz/ 1/4 cup butter
2 medium onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
5 celery sticks, chopped thin across the grain
1 red (bell) pepper, cored, seeded and chopped
1 green (bell) pepper, cored, seeded and chopped
250g/ 8oz/ 1 cup long grained rice
1 x 425g/ 14oz can of chopped tomatoes, drained
500g/ 1 lb cooked assorted cooked meats, sliced and diced.
250ml/ 8flOz/ 1 cup vegetable stock (white wine if you like)
1 teaspoon Cajun Spice Mixture (see below)
1 teaspoon salt
parsley sprigs, to garnish.
For the meat, I used chunky diced bacon, crispy-fried pepperoni, sliced regular pork'n'beef sausages, and a chopped chicken breast from a tower burger from KFC!
And I'm pretty sure I used instant OXO veg gravy from a jar!
In case you can't buy "Cajun Spices":
CAJUN SPICE MIXTURE
1 tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 - 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (to taste)
1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
1 1/2 teaspoon barbecue seasoning powder
JAMBALAYA COOKING INSTRUCTIONS
1 - Melt the butter in a large, heavy-based pan. Add the onions, garlic, celery, (bell) peppers and spice mixture and mix well.
2 - Add the rice and stir well to coat the grains in the butter mixture.
3 - Add the tomatoes, diced meat, stock or wine and salt. Bring to the boil, stirring well.
4 - Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 125 mins or until the rice is cooked and has absorbed all the liquid. Add extra water if the mixture absorbs it all before the rice is cooked. (I seem to remember I always had to do this).
5 - Server on warm plates with the parsley.
This was a goodie, hope you enjoy.-
YOW! This looks fabulous! Thank you so much!!
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You're welcome =)
I adapted it from a recipe in CAJUN & CREOLE COOKING by Carol Bowen (ISBN 1-85813-644-X). It's a fabulous book, long out of print but well worth hunting down. -
I'm in South Africa...I'd be more likely to actually find a needle in a haystack than a book on Cajun cooking here!
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I had to replace my copy a couple of years ago, and found it online.
*looks*
In fact, ebay.co.uk have a copy as item 220446489145 right now. -
I made this for dinner tonight and it was fabulous! My husband, who is Indian and likes spicy food, raved about it!
I used a spicy sausage, smoked chicken breasts and fresh shrimp for the meat (adding the shrimp at the very last so it didn't get tough), omitted the bell peppers (I can't eat them) and added some peas and carrots for colour. I had to use your recipe for Cajun Spices because the one I got at the store had absolutely NO smell, which tells me it will have no flavour.
It was WONDERFUL! Thank you so much...it will be a regular dish around here in the winter months, I can tell! -
I'm delighted it went down well! =)
Peppers are a problem for many folk, which might rule most Cajun food out; onion, celery and peppers are the "holy trinity" in most recipes.
Faced with the same dilemma, I would probably have substituted okra (step 1) and sweetcorn (step 4). The prawns sound good. On this subject, I have a terrific gumbo recipe from the same book if you need it ;>
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Hi, I don't know if this would help but I make a sausage and pepper dish using red beans and rice. While the red beans and rice are cooking, in a separate pan I brown off a combo of sweet sausage and hot sausage. I use the patties because it cooks more even without casing. When the sausage is almost brown, I add garlic, one red bell pepper and one orange bell pepper. I add a little pepper and sea salt. When all this is added, I let it simmer until the rice and beans is done. I then add everything together and let simmer for about a half hour un-covered. This way it gets thick. You do have to turn frequently so it doesn't stick or burn. I hope this works for you. Good luck. -
Oh how I love jambayala! There is an AMAZING recipe in the Sweet Potato Queens Big Ass Cookbook and Financial Planner. Yes, you read that right. I don't have it on me but I will post it as soon as I get home tonight! -
- I'm interested in this recipe. Neither of us like spicy sausage but both of us like poultry and shrimp, and all the rest of the ingredients sound great.
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Just use a mild sausage.
The proper sausage to use in jambalaya is andouille but I can't get it here so I used dania sausage, a lamb, garlic, and coriander sausage spiced with chili (it's from my favourite halaal butchery). -
- We aren't big on sausages, unless they are made from organic turkey meat. Sometimes we have a little pepperoni but that's about it. We don't like the other spicy Italian style sausages at all.
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I don't see any reason you couldn't use a turkey sausage in this. I used wine for the liquid and, just before I covered the pot to simmer it, added an extra cup of water. It was exactly enough liquid for the rice to soak up. Hubby is diabetic so I used basmati rice, which is lower GI than other rices, and the whole thing came out perfectly. Do give it a try...it's pretty easy and it really did taste very good.
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I'm from New Orleans and I make jumbalaya all the time. The thing you need to remember about Jambalaya (both spellings are actually correct imho) is that it is a Cajun method of using up leftovers. You can use whatever meat, vegetables and seasonings you choose. I've made rich expensive versions with shrimp and sausage. cheaper versions with chicken and sausage. and still cheaper versions with whatever leftovers I happen to have on hand. the latest one I happened to make;
1 lb ground pork
1 onion, chopped,
a few green onions, chopped,
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped discard seeds and slime
1 small can mushrooms
2 TBSP tomatoe paste
1/2 cup each frozen peas and frozen corn
2 cups rice
4 cups water
fry of the meat then add the chopped fresh veggies. you may need to add a little oil or butter if the pork is especially lean. when aromatics are softened add the mushrooms and then the tomato paste and stir to work it into the meat and veggies. add the frozen veggies, the rice and your choice of seasonings (I just used some tony chacherie's but any cajun or any other seasoning blend can be substituted.) add water and stir thoroughly to combine. Bring to boil then cover, lower the heat and simmer for about 15 minutes.
Cheap and good chez moi.-
Sounds tasty! I know jambalaya is the Cajun version of what my grandmother called "mulligan stew"...whatever was left over in the fridge made into a soup or stew. I don't seem to be able to wrap my taste buds around jambalaya without shrimp, however!
With 2 cups of rice, however, your recipe will make a BIG pot!
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yes, making a great big pot is part of the point. This recipe would feed a fairly large family and for a couple or small family there will be lots of planned-overs that can be enjoyed later, as it keeps well in the refrigerator and comes out wonderful microwaved until hot with maybe just a pat of butter on top to add a little extra richness. For those of us who really have to watch our pennies it's a budget stretcher too
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