This is such a quick and easy dish to prepare, but combines the immense flavours of smoked bacon, chicken, chillies, and Cajun spices.
Serves 4 as a starter, or 2 as a generous main.
Ingredients:
- One large onion
- Two large, uncooked chicken breasts
- Four rashers of good quality smoked bacon
- 200g long grain white rice
- One large, mild red chilli
- One tablespoon Cajun seasoning
- A pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)
- One x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
- 400ml chicken or vegetable stock (made from a stock cube is fine)
- One tablespoon vegetable oil
Method:
- Pour the oil into a large, high-sided frying pan with a lid and place over a medium heat. Peel and finely chop the onion and add to the pan, and allow to cook for a few minutes until starting to soften.
- Meanwhile, de-seed the chilli and finely chop. Cut any surplus fat from the bacon, and chop into small pieces, then add both the chilli and the bacon to the pan.
- Chop the chicken breasts into small pieces and add to the pan.
- Once the bacon and the chicken are part-cooked (this should take just a couple of minutes), add the Cajun seasoning and the rice and stir everything around so that all the ingredients are coated with oil and spice. If you are using cayenne pepper to make the dish hotter, this also goes into the pan at this stage.
- Add the tinned tomatoes and give eveything a good stir. Add most of the stock but keep a little back - you can always add more later if the liquid evaporates before the rice is cooked. Bring everything up to a simmer, then put the lid on. If your pan has no lid, this doesn't really matter - just be aware your rice will take a little longer to cook and you will have to be quite vigilant about adding extra liquid whenever required.
- The rice should take between 15 and 20 minutes to cook. You don't need to stir it constantly - if your pan has a lid, just check it every five minutes or so and give it a stir to make sure nothing is sticking to the bottom of the pan. If all the liquid evaporates before the rice is cooked, just keep adding a little more stock or water.
- After the rice is cooked, the liquid should mostly be gone and you should have a rice dish with the loose consistency of a risotto. Plate up immediately - this is a complete dish in itself but a green salad on the side complements the spicy flavours well.
Variations:
- You can make this as hot as you like - add extra chillies or spice to your taste.
- Using a risotto rice such as Arborio will produce a smoother texture.
- You can achieve a chunkier texture by using cubed chorizo rather than bacon.
- If you have any cooked chicken leftover from a roast, this works perfectly in this dish in place of the uncooked chicken breasts - just break into small pieces and add to the pan about 5 minutes before the end of the cooking time.
- Stir through some fresh chopped coriander just before you serve the dish.
The copyright of the article Easy Jambalaya Recipe in Dinner Recipes is owned by Elizabeth Gregory. Permission to republish Easy Jambalaya Recipe must be granted by the author in writing.
