Really Easy Jambalaya

I'm really not all that familiar with jambalaya, or with cajun food for that matter.  I've had gumbo before, I think; when I was a little girl at girl-scout camp.  Aside from that, I have no idea about anything cajun.

A couple weeks ago my husband decided that he was craving Jambalaya.  I had two options.  I could go to the store and buy one of those rice packet things where you just add water and meat, or I could figure out how to make it myself.  Since those rice packets scare me- who knows what half of those chemical ingredients are?, I'd rather not eat them.- I decided to take the second route.  Piyush was away at his chess tournament and I knew he'd be hungry when he got home so I decided to surprise him with a gigantic pot of spicey goodness...and I do mean gigantic.  This recipe made enough to feed at least 12 people.  I should mention, it also freezes well.

The recipe comes from a book entitled Cajun Cooking by Arlene Coco, well, the outline of the recipe does at least.  I changed it quite a bit because I didn't have crawfish and had no idea where to find them this time of year in Rochester.  She entitles the recipe "Spottfair Jambayala."  I also like to mess with recipes...and this was no exception.

I'm going to post the recipe according to how I prepared it, and not according to the actual recipe.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups rice
• 6 cups water
• oil, a few tbsp - enough to saute the vegetables
• 1 tbsp. butter
• About 5 to 6 stalks celery, diced
• 2 onions, I used one purple and one yellow, diced
• 2 green peppers, diced
• 3 tablespoons garlic paste
• 2 cans diced tomatoes and their juice
• 1 tbsp. italian seasoning
• 1 1/2 tbsp. sugar
• 2 tbsp. Cajun spice mix
• Parsley
• About 1.5 lbs shrimp
• 1 ring smoked turkey sausage

Directions:

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Rinse the rice and mix with the water.  Pour in a casserole dish and bake in the 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes or until all the water is absorbed.  Be careful not to let the rice get dry though.  Let the rice rest for 20 minutes after removing from the oven.

2.  In a fry pan or a dutch oven melt the butter.  Add the sausage and the shrimp.  Season as you desire.  I added some red chile flakes, cumin powder, corriander powder, pepper, some more cajun seasoning and a few dashes of hot sauce.  Stir fry until the meats are cooked through and the spices smell fragrant. 

3.  In a very large dutch oven or big pot heat the oil.  Saute celery, onion, green pepper and garlic over medium high heat until soft.  This takes about 10 minutes.

4.  Once the vegetables are soft add the diced tomatoes and juice, italian seasoning and sugar.  Mix in the cajun spice blend and cook for about 20 minutes more on a low simmer.

5.  Add the meats, parsley and rice to the vegetable mixture and cook on low heat for a few minutes until everything is nice and warm.

Serve your jambalaya warm with many hot sauces to choose from. 

What I really love about this dish is that every person that eats it has the opportunity to make it as spicy as they want it. I don't have to worry about putting in too much chile powder, or not enough.  It's also a very filling dish, and super economical.  I highly recommend this, Piyush even gave it an A+, you know it's good when he gives something an A+.  That NEVER happens!

Enjoy!!!

MMM....Pohe!

I have so many things to post, and I just haven't had the time, unfortunately.  I want to put something up though, so I thought I'd quickly post the Pohe I made for an after work snack last night.  My husband calls this tiffin, and he gets kind of grumpy if he doesn't have tiffin.

My mother-in law taught me how to make this dish when they were visiting back in August, and I've got to tell you, it's probably one of my favorite things.  It's so easy to make, it's not so spicy---so even my mom will eat it, and it's filling.

This dish comes from Maharastria and my husband fell in love with it when he was growing up in Mumbai.  I add a few of my own special touches to the dish ---like a handful of dried fruits (he'd rather I left these out, but this American has got to have a little sweetness).  You can also add potatoes to the dish, infact, I reccommend it.  My mother in law didn't teach me to add potatoes, but my husband insists that it tastes even better with them added.

Poha is the rice that you use to make this dish.  Its basically a flattened, puffed rice.  Its hard and dry.  My mom said it reminds her of those boxed potato flakes.  Its really easy to reconstitute.  You just put it in a strainer and run some water over it until its all moist. That's how I do it anyway.  You don't want it to be soaked, and you don't want it to be sitting in water.  You just want to run it under the faucet until the rice is no longer hard and dry.  It should be soft and moist---but not wet.  If that makes sense?   Poha comes in 2 variaties, thick and thin.  I've only used the thick, and I'm pretty sure that's the type you want to use when making Pohe.  You can find it at the Indian grocery store.  Sometimes supermarkets have really good "ethnic" food sections, so you can check there too, but I would bet you'll have to take a trip to the Indian market...and that's a good thing!  You can find so many neat ingredients and yummy things there!  I could spend a good hour in the Indian market here in town, and it's tiny!

Now, on to the Pohe!

Ingredients:

• 2 c. Pohe
• 2 tsp. turmeric powder
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped (prefer red onion)
• 1+ serrano chiles, chopped or sliced (to your taste)
• 1/4 c. almonds, roughly chopped
• handful of raisens or dried cranberries
• 1/2 - 2/3 c. frozen peas
• 1 tsp. sugar
• salt, to taste
• about 2 tbsp oil
• 1-2 fresh roma tomatoes, diced
• chopped corriander

Directions:

1.  Put the poha in a strainer.  Run the strainer under the faucet to moisten the poha.  Be careful not to over-soak the rice, but you also don't want to be stingy with the water.  You don't want dry poha added into your dish.  Set this aside.   (Most of the time I will pour my ground tumeric powder on top of the poha and let it sit in the strainer.  I don't stir it in.  Just let it sit on top.  You don't have to do this.  You can add it later, as I am recommending in this recipe).

2.  Heat the oil in a pan, you want a fairly large pan or you'll have ingredients falling out all over the place eventually.  Add the onions and fry until they are beginning to brown.  Add the chile, almonds, and fruits.  Stir fry for a couple minutes, then add the frozen peas.  Keep stirring until they soften up and everything becomes nice and fragrant.

3.  Add the salt, to taste and also the sugar.  Stir everything together.

This is how I add my salt and sugar.  I'm real exact.

4.  Add the poha and the ground turmeric powder to the pan and gently mix everything together.  I know its mixed well when everything is yellow. 

5.  Once everything turns yellow, add the diced tomato.  stir them gently. You don't want to break them up, you just want to heat them.  Add the chopped corriander.  Stir everything together, make sure the salt is correct...and serve.  YUM! and fast!  For me, this is the Indian equivalent to mashed potatoes, you know?  Good, comfort food. 

Well, now I'm off to make some buttercream icing.  I've got a cake to make, among other things.  My friend is having her bridal shower tomorrow and I'm in charge of bringing all sorts of goodies.  My husband also lost his keys yesterday in this huge snowstorm we were having, and one of our neighbors was shoveling and found them!  So I'm baking them cookies.  Hopefully I can get Piyush to help decorate them.  That'd be fun!  I also have to take my vehicle to get looked at.  In the huge storm, my heater decided it was time to die.  I don't know how I did it, but I had to drive in blizzard conditions with unthawable frost on my windshild.  Haha, every time I even breathed the windsheild would fog up more.  Good thing I went to college wayyyy up north.  Those years of living on the north-shore definitely taught me how to drive in bad weather.  Luckily my dad lives close and is in the car business, I should have my heater back and running soon.  I don't know what I'd do without my dad.  He's a life-saver, definitely!