Cajun Shrimp and Sausage Rice

Nida Shahrukh

Most awaited and true Cajun Shrimp with Sausage Rice surprisingly the easiest to make and considerably customized with your most demanding protein (shrimp, prawns, or any other ones). Just requires a little bit of your time for chopping, mixing, and a solid 55 minutes from start to end of this recipe.

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Prep Time 15

Cook Time 40

Total Time 55

Course Main Dish, Diner, Lunch

Cuisine South African, Southern

Servings 8 persons

Calories 306 kcal

Ingredients

5 tbsp Vegetable Oil / Butter
2 Chicken Breast (boneless and cut into bite-size pieces)
2 cups Andouille Sausage (thinly sliced into rounds)
3 Ribs Celery (Diced)
4 small Bell Pepper / Capsicum (cored and diced)
1 Jalapeno Pepper (seeded and finely chopped)
1 Spring Onion (finely chopped)
1 White Onion (diced)
4 Cloves Garlic (peeled and minced)
2 cups Tomatoes (crushed)
5 cups Chicken Stock
1 ½ cups Uncooked White Rice (short grains or long grains)
2 tbsp Cajun Seasoning / Creole Seasoning (adjust to suit your tastes / heat preference)
1 tsp Dried Thyme (crushed)
1 tsp Dried Oregano
1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper
1 Bay Leaf
1 cup Okra (thinly sliced)
1/2 kg Raw large Shrimp ( peeled and deveined)
Salt (as required)
1/2 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
1 tsp File Powder
1/2 tsp Black Pepper (freshly Cracked

For Garnish

Fresh Parsley ( finely chopped )
Green Onions (thinly-sliced)
1 tbsp Hot Pepper Sauce

Instructions

Take a stockpot (or a very large, deep sauté pan) and heat up 2 tbsp vegetable oil or butter in a pot over medium-high heat or simply Dutch oven over medium heat. Now season the sausage and boneless chicken bite-size pieces with half of the Cajun Seasoning andsauté for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the chicken cooked through and the sausage is lightly browned. Transfer to a clean plate and set aside.
Add the remaining oil to the stockpot. Add bell pepper, celery, jalapeno, onion, and garlic. Sauté for almost 6 minutes, stirring from time to time, until the onions become softened.
Now gradually add the crushed tomatoes, chicken stock, rice, Cajun seasoning, thyme, oregano, cayenne, red pepper flakes, bay leaf, and stir to combine. Continue cooking until the gravy seems to a perfect simmer.
After that reduce heat to medium-low, cover the pot and simmer for a maximum of about 20-25 minutes, or until the rice is nearly cooked through, stirring every 5 minutes, so the rice does not cook or burn.
Now add okra and stir to combine. Stir in the chicken and sausage, cook for about 5 minutes more while stirring continuously, now simply remove the heat and discard the bay leaf.
Place the shrimp on top of the jambalaya mixture, stir through gently and cover with a lid. Allow to simmering while stirring occasionally and give a good mix until shrimps are perfectly cooked through and get a pinkish color.
Seasoned with the extra salt and black pepper powder, If needed, and remove from heat. Adjust heat with extra hot sauce, Cayenne pepper, or Cajun seasoning.
Now garnished the bowl with green onions and fresh parsley. Serve hot immediately.

What Especially be Serve With Cajun Shrimp Rice and Sausage Jambalaya:

Jambalaya itself contains more taste and flavors, though perfectly consider an incredibly hearty cuisine as well. So be humble with its serving and as a recommended thing, use only something very fresh and light such as:
·       Any mixed salad
·       Guacamole Tossed Veggie Salad
·       Seasonal Fruit Salad like Berry FruitSalad / Winter Fruit Salad
·       Any Mixed Fresh Veggie Salad WithSome Macrons
·       Iced Tea, Soft Drink, or just some Moscow Mules.

Notes

Store leftover mixture: leftover gravy or mixture can easily be refrigerated for up to 3-5 days.
Pick your protein: Chicken, Shrimps, and Andouille sausage are traditional goes well for jambalaya, but no restriction allowed, as choose whatever you want to eat. One, two, or simply all of three, you would like for your protein diet, also can be add other seafood like cod, mussels, clams, crawfish, pork or just firm tofu as well.
To make it spicier: just add 2 more jalapenos or if just want it milder, simply omit the jalapenos altogether without any wariness.
Usage of Okra: For Okra, used whatever you have, like fresh or frozen Okra both work great in it. Make sure before adding Okra into Jambalaya, thaw it first.
To make it vegetarian: want to avoid a meaty diet? No issue, as you can simply add more stock of veggies and lots of other hearty veggies like carrot, squash, mushrooms, broccoli, peas, or any kind of veggie you want to eat. Just simply skip meat steps and gradually add veggies on behalf of meat. As for some veggies takes more time to get softener, so the rice can get burn or just overcooked so to make it perfect, just sauté veggie separately first and then add them back in at the very end.