This is the perfect dish to cook when you have (1) several mouths to feed and (2) no time at all to figure anything out. Everything except the sausages, all ingredients are from the store cupboard – a few simple spices, tinned tomatoes, rice and any veggies you have in the fridge – though an onion is pretty necessary and a whole pepper is preferable.
You will need:
1 pack of, or approx. a pound of sausages – mix in some chorizo if you have it
2 cups of Basmati rice, rinsed until the water comes clear
2 cups of good chicken stock – a decent cube version will do
I onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced or at least squashed
1 pepper, any colour, chopped
1 can of tomatoes
1 dessert spoon of tomato paste
1 tsp cumin seeds
I heaped tsp of smoked paprika
1/2 tsp salt
lots of black pepper
parsley and lemon zest to serve
Method:
Use a big stove top pan, that has a lid.
Prep your ingredients
Make up half a litre of hot chicken stock.
Squeeze the sausages out of their skins and throw the skins away. Chop up any chorizo you are using.
Heat some olive oil in a pan and gently start to fry off the bare sausage meat, breaking it up with a spatula.
When the sausage meat has started to take, add the onion, then the pepper, then all of the spices and salt.
When you’re happy, add the tin of tomatoes and break up the pieces,
then add a big dollop of tomato paste
and eventually the 2 cups of chicken stock.
Make sure the rice has been properly rinsed and drained of the starchy white water it produces. This is important!
Add the rice into the pan in one go and stir to coat it all.
Bring to a full heat, then cover and simmer for 20 mins
Meanwhile prep some chopped parsley and some lemon zest to serve
Refrain from lifting the lid! But do monitor if your Jambalaya in case it runs dry. Over to you!
Serve piping hot, with some salad leaves if you like, and plenty of lemon and parsley. Imagine you’re on the Bayou ;-)