Chicken Jambalaya

25 minutes
to cook

Jambalaya is one of the easiest and best rice dishes that owes its origins to the traditional Cajun cooking of America.

The Delia Online Cookery School: Watch how to prepare peppers and chillies in our video, press the recipe image to play.

This recipe is from The Delia Collection: Chicken. Serves 2-3

Method

First of all, heat the frying pan over a high heat and brown the pieces of chorizo sausage, without adding any fat, then remove them from the pan to a plate and set aside.

Then add a tablespoon of the oil and, when it's hot, brown the chicken and transfer that to the plate with the chorizo. Next, fry the onions for 2-3 minutes to brown them a little at the edges, then return the chorizo and chicken to the pan and add the garlic, celery, chilli and sliced pepper.

Continue to fry for 4-5 minutes, till the celery and pepper are also softened and lightly tinged brown at the edges, adding a little more oil if you need to.

Now stir in the rice to get a good coating of oil, then add the Tabasco to the hot chicken stock. Next, add the chopped tomatoes and bay leaf to the pan, then pour in the stock. Season with salt and freshly milled black pepper, give it all one stir and push the rice down into the liquid. Now turn the heat to low, put a lid on and let it barely simmer for 20 minutes.

Then, check that the rice is cooked and add a little more stock, if necessary. Cover with a lid for 5 more minutes, then serve, garnished with the chopped parsley and spring onions.