Jambalaya

Finally it’s starting to get cold. Wanting to eat some warm hearty meal for some time, and there it clicked in my mind jambalaya! I love this food!!My old neighbor introduced me some Louisiana food, I like all of them. Among them Jambalaya is all-time favorites. I like its unique heat added by herbs like oregano and thyme, it is so different then the spicy south Asian food we eat. The more heat the food has, the better it gets, though I try to make it little milder for the sake of my little son. Otherwise he will be asking for sour cream to make it milder. Regional food like this has totally changed my perception of American food; I really thought Pizza and burger were the only food Americans ate when i was in Nepal. Since I like this food so much I will be making it in a big pot:). Instead of cooking the rice with the stew, I am rather adding the cooked rice in the stew and cooking it in a low heat. It’s called cheating. ha ha! The result was so good! Finger licking yumm….

Yield: 5

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

1 pound small diced chicken

1 pound Andouille sausage diced in small pieces

1 big onion finely chopped

1 cup finely chopped celery

1 green finely chopped green pepper

1 28 ounces crushed tomatoes

1 cup water

2 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp parsley

½ tsp Creole seasoning

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp salt

2 chicken bouillon cubes

3 cups cooked rice

2 tbs of cooking oil.

Directions:

In a big pot, heat the cooking oil, saute the chopped onion and chopped celery until it gets tender. Add the cubed chicken and small diced Andouille sausage to it and cook it for five minutes. Add crushed tomatoes, thyme, oregano, cayenne  peppers,chopped chili peppers, salt, creole seasoning, water, chicken cubes to the pot. Cook in a low flame for 15 minutes. Add 3 cups of cooked rice and cook it for 30 minutes stirring it occasionally. Now it’s ready to serve!!