By Lola Obembe
So for this edition I was asked to make a “mish-mash” dish. I was a little confused at first, like what does that really mean? I even googled “Mish-mash” and discovered that what we call scrambled eggs in Nigeria is a specialty dish in Bulgaria called “Mish-mash” lol. I tried another route asking myself, what food do I know that basically says “all-join” ?…. and I thought about Jambalaya!
Jambalaya is a Creole dish that sort of looks like Jollof rice and looks like it has a lot of stuff in it. I’ve never made it before, but this first time was surprisingly easy. I highly recommend it.
What you will need:
- olive oil
- Chopped White Onions
- Cloves of garlic, peeled & chopped
- Chopped Bell Peppers – 1 small green, red, yellow & orange
- 2 celery stalks, diced
- Sliced Sausage (not hot dogs)
- Chicken breast, diced
- 1 large bay leaf
- 3 cups of chicken broth
- Cajun seasoning
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper (or just pepper really)
- 1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce
- 3 cups of a grain (brown/white rice or quinoa)
- Shrimp (optional)
Step 1
Heat up 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large sauce pan and add the garlic, onions, bell peppers and celery until “al-dente” (so you don’t have to have this many coloured bell peppers but nice to have for the colours 🙂
Step 2
Add the Chicken and the sausage to the mix and stir on medium heat until the chicken is no longer pink
Step 3
Add the Chicken stock, rice, bay leaf and Cajun seasoning, canned tomatoes, and rice and stir
Step 4
Cover the pan and let the rice cook. Stir intermittently so it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan
Step 5
Enjoy!