Name: Creole shrimp jambalaya
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Creole
Ingredients: 2lb shrimp, peeled and de vained; 1 medium sized onion; 3 celery stalks, chopped; 1 green bell pepper; 1 red bell pepper; 2 bay leaves; 1tbsp of garlic powder; 1 tsp black pepper; 1tbsp fresh thyme, stem removed; ½ tsp paprika; 2 tsp oregano; 1 cup of tomato in juice; 3tbsp organic tomato puree; 1 tbsp cajun seasoning (see post); 4 cups of veggie stock (see post); 1 1/2 cups of rice, thoroughly rinsed; 2tbsp of coconut oil; Salt and to taste

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Creole shrimp jambalaya recipe – Bring a taste of the NOLA to your home with spicy creole jambalaya cuisine with Spanish and French influence

If you enjoy a bit of heat and well seasoned food, then this creole shrimp jambalaya cuisine couldn’t be more timely. I’m a huge fan of southern food and as a traveller I’ve had the luxury of sampling the real deal.

This was a point in my life where I used to travel more frequently than I do nowadays and I wasn’t as passionate about food as I am now. As a consequence, I missed many opportunities to learn about the foods of the places I visited. Don’t get me wrong I was always a foodie, though I didn’t immerse myself in food and drink until recently.

What is Jambalaya?

Essentially Jambalaya is a one pot dish that consists of rice, meat and vegetables. The meat can include anything from sausage, usually smoked andouille, chicken, and/or seafood such as shrimp or cray fish.

With that being said it’s hardly surprising that the word jambalaya derives from the French word for ham – Jambon and Aya is thought to be the West African word for rice.

Variations of Jambalaya

Jambalaya is like the southern version of Paella or Risotto, bearing the same wet consistently. There are a few versions of Jambalaya; Creole and Cajun.

Creole (the one pictured here) sometimes referred to as ‘red jambalaya’ uses tomatoes.

Usually the meat (sausage or chicken) is cooked first followed by the holy trinity (very important ingredient) which is celery, onion and green bell pepper.

On a side note, I included red bell pepper in mine purely for color and a hint of sweetness.

The holy trinity – what is it?

The holy trinity is very similar to the latin America Sofrito, Haitian Epis and the English Caribbean island’s green seasoning.

In short one would describe it as the base or should I say the foundation of the recipe and a very important step might I add. There would be no jambalaya without the holy trinity!

Cajun Jambalaya

Cajun jambalaya differs in the respect that is contains no tomatoes and the selected meat and veggies are cooked separately from the rice.

This version isn’t as popular as the creole shrimp Jambalaya and tends to be eaten namely in the rural parts of Louisiana.

How to make creole shrimp jambalaya

This creole shrimp jambalaya cuisine was well received by my family, they even went back for seconds and thirds (greedy bunch!) and Charla was left with none. I’m certainly not complaining as an empty plate is a good sign that the food was good, so why not share the recipe with you guys right?

Homemade ingredients – stock and seasoning

I used some of my Homemade vegetable stock and homemade creole cajun seasoning which offers some bold flavours. It’s quite powerful so I only used a single tablespoon and added the necessary condiments separately.

I chose to be more meticulous to ensure the end result wasn’t overwhelming with potent spices or excess heat. If you like more heat that feel free to add another heaping more of the home made seasoning.

Shrimp jambalaya without sausage

Please keep in min this is strictly creole SHRIMP jambalaya – no pork or chicken. If you wish to add more poultry then adjust the seafood to meat ratio accordingly.

What shrimp to use for jambalaya?

For best results I would advise to use raw jumbo/medium sized shrimp because it’s so easy to overcook shrimp. The texture of shrimp is very changeable should it be overcook – rubber and tough, not nice!

It’s also best practice to add the shrimp towards the final stages of cooking (as per recipe) again to sure perfection.

I used a total of 2lbs worth of raw shrimp. If you want you can use cooked shrimp, but as mentioned earlier add them a minutes to the end of the cooking stages.

Frozen or fresh shrimp works well with this recipe.

Paleo style shrimp jamabalaya

Although this recipe contains grains (brown rice). There’s some great paleo alternatives out there such as cauliflower rice, sweet potatoes or vegetable noodle (zuchhini zoodles). You can still follow the same recipe steps and achieve an awesome grain free creole shrimp jambalaya

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