Creole-Style Vegetarian Jambalaya

Miss Annie's Note:

This is a pretty good recipe and using eggplant in this dish is a good idea. This dish has lots of room for you to improvise and create your own jambalaya. This recipe is Creole-style, with a tomato base, but you may omit the tomato paste and tomatoes if you want country-style jambalaya. Serve with a salad and ice cold beer.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 25 mins
• Prep Time: 25 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 12

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 cups yellow onions, small dice
• 1 cup red onion, small dice
• 1 cup bell pepper, small dice
• 1 cup celery, small dice
• 2 cups eggplants, small, diced
• 1 cup yellow squash, diced
• 1 cup zucchini, diced
• 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons shallots, chopped
• 3 cups tomatoes, chopped
• salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1/2-1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, to taste
• 2 teaspoons creole seasoning, to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 3 bay leaves
• 4 cups long grain rice
• 1 cup tomato paste
• 8 cups vegetable stock
• 1 cup green onion, chopped

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat.
2. Add the onions, shallots, celery, bell peppers and garlic and saute until tender, about 5 minutes.
3. Add the eggplant, squash, and zucchini, and saute until they're tender, about other 5 minutes or so.
4. Add the tomatoes.
5. Season with salt, Creole seasoning, and additional cayenne, if desired.
6. Add the bay leaves.
7. Add the rice and stir for 2 to 3 minutes.
8. Heat the tomato paste in a non-stick pan and stir, making sure it doesn't stick or burn, until the sugars in the paste begin to caramelize, and the paste begins to turn a deep mahogany color.
9. Deglaze with some of the vegetable stock, stir and combine thoroughly.
10. Add the tomato paste to the rest of the vegetable stock and stir until well-blended.
11. Add the vegetable stock/tomato mixture to vegetables, stir and cover.
12. Cook for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the rice is tender and the liquid has been absorbed.
13. Do not stir the jambalaya while it's cooking.
14. Remove from heat and let stand for 2-3 minutes.
15. Add the green onions and mix thoroughly.
16. Garnish with some fresh long chives, and serve with a salad and good beer.

Reviews

[Sackville]

This was very tasty. A dish that has just the right amount of heat and isn't hard to make either. It only took me about 45 minutes to make the meal, although I scaled the recipe down for two people, so that could have affected the cooking time. The only caution I'd add is that I did have to add a bit more water than indicated, so keep an eye on the pot -- you don't want to burn it!

[ratherbeswimmin']

Wow, Miss Annie!! This jambalaya was fabulous. I love that it is vegetarian and full of all my favorite vegetables. The flavor was top-notch with all that creole spiciness. This made a large amount so I put what we didn't eat tonight in the freezer for later. So glad that you shared this recipe.

[dnhopkins]

This was an amazing dish. Using the seasoning and directions provided, you could make many wonderful dishes with any vegetables you needed to use up! Don't be scared if you don't have all the vegetables, I substituted the zucchini, squash, and eggplant for a bag of frozen okra (all we can get around here!) and it was still awesome! I did end up adding additional water (and 15 minutes) at the end to finish off the rice. Thank you for sharing!