Ive been wanting to make jambalaya for a week or so as a way to take part in all the fun my friends were having in New Orleans at the Crescent City Scrabble tournament. Better late than never! Making this dish was an all-day affair, on and off, and it turned out as fascinating as it is delicious.. There are three main types of jambalaya: city Creole or red jambalaya, which is made in New Orleans itself, rural Creole jambalaya, and Cajun or white jambalaya. The differences in these three types of jambalaya involve the order in which the meat, vegetables, and rice are cooked; whether tomatoes are included (yes in New Orleans, not so often the further you get from the city); and whether the rice is even cooked with the meat and veggies at all --the white version specifies that the rice is cooked in savory broth separately from the meat and veggies. My version includes chicken, andouille sausage, and shrimps, the Cajun holy trinity of celery, sweet pepper, and onions, a ton of garlic, some insanely fragrant Creole seasoning that I mixed up yesterday, rice, bay leaves, and some extra thyme, parsley, and scallions. And tomatoes, which suggests that my version of jambalaya is somewhat citified. However, I browned my meats separately from my veggies, which is more rural-style. The rice was the thing that knocked my version of jambalaya altogether out of the bayou. Im told that most folks in Louisiana would use a long-grain rice such as Zaterains, Uncle Bens, Toro, or one of the converted or parboiled rices. I would have used a brown basmati or jasmine rice if Id had my druthers, but when I went poking around in my pantry, all I had was a fancy little bag of Chinese black rice, sometimes called Forbidden rice. By the time I was going to add the rice, and discovered that all I had was that bag of black rice, it was late afternoon, and I had a hot series of games going on (WORKmATE, GATEFOLd, BERAYiNG, and dUOdENAL were a few of the sweet finds), so I was a bit distracted. I considered the situation briefly, remembered that Chinese black rice is delicious and nutty, and that its super nutritious, and although I knew the rice would cook up nice and dark purple, I totally forgot in that moment the way that black rice makes *everything* dark purple. When I first opened the lid, I was nonplussed bordering on disappointed, cause it was looking damned murky in there, not the bright mix of greens, pinks, and tomatoey reds that I was expecting. But as I gave the pot a stir, and took a little taste, I was relieved --it was crazy delicious. And once I got it ladled into a bowl, I decided it was downright pretty. The chicken itself absorbs a lot of the purple, making it look like that fancy chicken whose meat is solid black all the way through. I always say that I cook according to the dictates of my larder, my gardens, and my budget, and while Im intensely smitten with the pursuit of rigorous authenticity as a way to explore the history, culture, science, and context of food, I still maintain that flexibility is a beautiful quality to encourage, both in and out of the kitchen. So Im calling this dish my forbidden jambalaya. Its good : -)
Posted on: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 01:49:31 +0000
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