Jambalaya

Sometime last year I decided I wanted to cook jambalaya. As you might expect, Cajun food isn’t exactly easy to find in Japan, and since most Japanese people don’t like spicy food, I kinda doubt it would be very popular anyway.

Despite my love of Cajun food, however, I’d never cooked it before. So I searched online and finally found a good looking recipe to try. Sadly though I lacked the necessary spices to cook the food, and some of the spices I needed are not readily available in Japan. So I stashed the recipe until a later time when I had the necessary spices.

Last winter, when Hisa and I were visiting my family in the States, I bought some Creole seasoning to bring back with us. Since then it’s been sitting in my kitchen unused (opps), but I found the jambalaya recipe from last year the other day, so I finally got around to cooking jambalaya last night! And it was good! Hooray!

As I’m sure many of you know, there’s always a bit of trepidation when cooking something completely new for the first time. You never really know if it’s going to come out well or not. That’s part of the risk, but also part of the excitement of experimenting with new dishes and recipes. It’s always much more gratifying when the experiment turns out well though, rather than the failed experiments that still get put on the dinner table  (and believe me there have been several). I was quite happy that this new recipe turned out very well though!

This recipe is based off of a jambalaya recipe by Emeril Lagasse here.

Jambalaya (serves 2 – 3)

• 1 c. shrimp, peeled, deveined and chopped
• 1 large chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 Tbsp Creole seasoning
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 diced onion (or 1 whole small onion)
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 c. celery, diced
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tomato, chopped (or 1/2 can of diced tomatoes)
• 1 bay leaves
• 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp. Tobasco sauce
• 3/4 c. uncooked rice
• 3 c. chicken stock
• 5 ounces Andouille sausage, sliced
• salt and pepper

1. In a small bowl, mix the chicken, shrimp, and creole seasoning so that the meat is well coated with the seasoning. Set aside.
2. Heat oil in a large skillet over med-high heat. Add the onion, celery, and green pepper. Cook until onion turns translucent, about 3 – 4 minutes.
3. Add the garlic, tomatoes, bay leaves, Worcestershire sauce, and Tobasco. Mix well.
4. Add the rice and chicken broth. On medium heat, cook rice, stirring occasionally, until it becomes tender, about 15 minutes.
5. Add the chicken and shrimp mixture and the Andouille sausage, and continue cooking until the chicken & shrimp are completely cooked, about 10 minutes.
6. Season with salt and pepper. Add more creole seasoning or Tobasco to taste.

I served it with a side of fried okra, because fried okra makes everything better. Especially jambalaya!