Creole-Style Vegetarian Jambalaya

"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."
 
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photo by Hyuna BubblePop photo by Hyuna BubblePop
photo by Hyuna BubblePop
photo by Food.com photo by Food.com
Ready In:
1hr 25mins
Ingredients:
20
Serves:
12
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ingredients

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directions

  • Heat the oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat.
  • Add the onions, shallots, celery, bell peppers and garlic and saute until tender, about 5 minutes.
  • Add the eggplant, squash, and zucchini, and saute until they're tender, about other 5 minutes or so.
  • Add the tomatoes.
  • Season with salt, Creole seasoning, and additional cayenne, if desired.
  • Add the bay leaves.
  • Add the rice and stir for 2 to 3 minutes.
  • 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.
  • Deglaze with some of the vegetable stock, stir and combine thoroughly.
  • Add the tomato paste to the rest of the vegetable stock and stir until well-blended.
  • Add the vegetable stock/tomato mixture to vegetables, stir and cover.
  • Cook for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the rice is tender and the liquid has been absorbed.
  • Do not stir the jambalaya while it's cooking.
  • Remove from heat and let stand for 2-3 minutes.
  • Add the green onions and mix thoroughly.
  • Garnish with some fresh long chives, and serve with a salad and good beer.

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Reviews

  1. 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!
     
  2. 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.
     
  3. This was very good. I made 1/2 the recipe as one of the other reviews stated that it made a lot. 1/2 recipe was the right amount for us although next time I will make the whole recipe and freeze the leftovers in vacuum boiling bags for camping. I also had to add a bit more water for the rice to cook fully. I look forward to adding sweet potatoes next time. I have added this to my cookbook and will definitely make it again. Thanks
     
  4. We love this. I Even though we have not had Jambalaya before it felt like comfort food. I doubled the creole seasoning (could have been the recipe for creole seasonging that was not as strong) and omitted the cayenne pepper. The amount of water and the time was just right. I cut the recipe in half and there is still a ton. I will freeze some as suggested. I also used diced tomatoes.
     
  5. Best way I've found yet to use up eggplant and summer squash from my CSA box! This was delicious and a big hit with my bf, despite having some veggies in it that he doesn't usually like. I halved the recipe, but kept the full amount of tomatoes. Otherwise, I kept the recipe pretty much as written. Half the recipe made 4 servings for us, which I served with some good crusty bread. :)
     
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Tweaks

  1. This vegetarian recipe was incredibly good. I made as directed except that I halved the recipe, and used two 14.5 oz. cans of petite diced tomatoes in place of the fresh tomatoes only because I did not have the latter. The amount of vegetable stock suggested seemed like a lot, but it ended up being just the right amount. I will say that there is A LOT of chopping and dicing to this recipe, but it is worth it in the end. I started the chopping early in the day so as to not be rushed by dinner time. One tip is to stir the dish as it cooks. The recipe specifies not to stir the dish as it cooks for 30 to 35 minutes. I suspected the rice might start to stick without some stirring, so I checked on it after 15 minutes of cooking and the rice, in fact, had started to burn and stick. So I'd recommend stirring this dish at least two or three times as it cooks. I cooked for a total of 35 minutes and the consistency of the rice was perfect. Oh, and I skipped the step of heating the tomato paste separately. I added the paste directly from the can to the dish and it was delicious. I also did not add the suggested cayenne pepper, as the dish was spicy enough for my husband and I without it. I will definitely be making this dish again as part of my family's Meatless Friday meals. I think chopped mushrooms would be a nice addition to this dish aside from the listed vegetables which work so nicely together. Thank you for posting.
     
  2. 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!
     
  3. Thank you thank you thank you! I have been searching for a good jambalaya recipe since becoming vegetarian and I've definitely found it. I spiced mine up with hot sauce instead of cayenne pepper - a spicy, flavorful and satisfying dish! Not sure what went wrong for the other reviewer, mine was nicely done after 30 minutes using long grain basmati rice...
     
  4. Laissez les bon temps roulez! I served with recipe #116185, with beef-flavored TVP for me and pre-cooked shrimp for hubby (yuck). I only used half the oil and used a 28 oz can of diced tomatoes instead of fresh (I used the juice from them in place of part of the broth). If you don't want to shell out for Creole seasoning (which is just a blend of spices you probably already have anyway), I recommend recipe #44162.
     

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