red beans and rice new orleans style

  • 1 cup long grained rice such as Basmati or Jasmine
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • 1 Goan Chorizo sausage crumbled
  • 1 small red onion, finely sliced
  • 1 capsicum or green bell pepper, diced
  • 1 celery rib plus leaves, finely diced
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 1/2-2 teaspoons powdered Cajun spice mix
  • 200 grams red kidney beans- Rajma or Kashmiri Rajma, drained and rinsed
  • 1 teaspoon hot sauce
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 3 black peppercorn
  • 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves crushed or use half the dried quantity
  • 1 teaspoon fresh oregano leaves crushed or use 1/2 the dried quantity
  • 100 grams small to medium prawns full cleaned
  • 250 grams chicken thighs finely sliced
  • Salt and sugar as required

METHOD

Soak the kidney beans overnight. Cook kidney beans until cook tender and almost mushy in excess water. Drain and reserve. Heat the chicken and 6 cups of water with the bay leaf and black peppercorns in a medium saucepan on a low flame until chicken is tender or you have about 4 cups of water left. Drain the liquid from the chicken. Add the rice to the chicken stock and cook on medium heat until rice is fluffy and edible. Add excess liquid with 2 extra cups of water left in the rice to the kidney beans and cook kidney beans till tender and mushy. Sautethe shrimp in a wide skillet in a teaspoon of oil until just tender.

Heat oil in a large skillet and add sausage and onions and sweat 1-2 minutes. Add green red and yellow bell peppers. Saute 1-2 minutes. Add garlic and tomato paste and stir 1-2 minutes. Add the herbs, beans and their water, cajun spice, cooked chicken, hot sauce and cook until sauce thickens. Stir in shrimp and any liquid in the skillet. Season for salt and add sugar if necessary to balance flavours. Serve hot with fluffy long grained rice.

Red beans and rice New Orleans