Rice Cooker Jambalaya

strawberrybird's Note:

By making this in a rice cooker, you can avoid burning the rice and having to watch the pot. Make sure your rice cooker is at least a 6 cup capacity or cooked product won’t fit. If you like your vegetables crisper or don’t want to take the time, you can skip the sautéing step; just melt the butter before adding to the rice cooker. Also, if you don’t like diced tomatoes increase the chicken broth to 4 cups and use a 5 oz can of tomato paste in place of the diced tomatoes.

• Total Time: 45 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 4-6

Yield: 1.0 cup

• 1 cup mushroom pieces (optional)
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic clove
• ½ small onion , diced
• ½ green bell pepper , cut into chunks
• 3 cups chicken broth
• ½ lb kielbasa or ½ lb shrimp , fully cooked
• 2 teaspoons butter or 2 teaspoons margarine
• 1 ½ cups white rice (I use jasmine, but any white rice will do)
• 1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 cayenne pepper (to taste)

Directions:

1. If using sausage, cut into small pieces.
2. In a medium frying pan, over medium heat, sauté garlic, onion, bell pepper, and mushrooms if using, in butter or margarine for 5-10 minutes or until the onions are translucent. Add sausage and cook another 1-2 minutes.
3. Add rice, sausage or shrimp, vegetables, chicken broth, diced tomatoes, and cayenne pepper to pot.
4. Stir briefly to evenly distribute all ingredients.
5. Set rice cooker to cook. Let sit 10 minutes after rice is cooked.
6. Stir and enjoy!

Reviews

[spaceoops]

I used this recipe to inaugurate my 5 cup rice cooker. Cooking time was 40 minutes. Five stars (*****) to this recipe for ease of preparation. I added the optional mushrooms, used kielbasa not shrimp, red bell pepper instead of green, and precooked the veggies and kielbasa in butter with fresh ground pepper. I drained my diced tomatoes to prevent mushiness, and scaled back the amount of rice so that it would fit in my cooker. I used 1 cup of Basmati long grain white rice, and one can of chicken broth. Before adding the broth I mixed in a healthy squirt (5 seconds long from the big bottle) of Sri Racha hot sauce because I don't have cayenne pepper, and I use Sri Racha on everything. I used the recipe's given amounts of veggies and kielbasa, and it fit perfectly in my cooker. I rated this recipe four stars because I felt it was missing a little bit of flavor. I have never made Jambalaya before. Next time I make it (in my rice cooker!) I will investigate and add more seasonings to it. The kielbasa was the most prominent flavor in the dish, which is okay, but the rice component was a tad bland. Could have used more Sri Racha too. >:-) Otherwise, the dish was fantastic. The rice cooked perfectly, and there was only a small layer at the bottom of the cooker that turned a little brown. I mixed it into the rest of the dish and it tastes just fine. Very good vegetable to rice ratio (I like it high) in my modified recipe for a balanced one-pot meal. I had enough for three generously portioned meals. Substitutions: Sri Racha for cayenne pepper Red bell pepper for green bell pepper Modifications: Less rice Less chicken broth Drained tomatoes Next time: Add more seasonings

[A Good Thing]

We all loved this tasty dish which was easy once you got all the tidbits into the rice cooker. I especially liked the fact that I didn't have to "babysit" it once the rice was added. Made for PAC 2007. Thanks for posting this strawberrybird. (: Photo to come.

[jane49423]

Very easy to make, I liked it, but the rest of the family really didn't care for it. The texture of the rice was somewhat mushy. Perhaps my rice cooker or the type of rice I used