Mofo Day #1 True Grub: Renee's Dark Side Jambalaya

Welcome to True Grub! That's right, I wanna chew good things with you.

When you came in, the eggs went out
And every taste bud filled up with doubt
I don't know who you think you are But before this meal is through
I wanna chew good things with you
I'm the kind to eat up lots of meat Gut sick and heart filled with defeat
I can't pronounce what you've cooked for me
But I know this much is true
I wanna chew good things with you

This year's theme was inspired by one of my favorite television shows, a cuisine I am completely unfamiliar with, and a little muse from Isa. I originally wanted it to be a collaborative effort with her because I'm nerdy like that, but I kept coming up with mostly my own recipes and figured I could do this alone. So exciting!

We'll spend the month looking at traditional Looziana Cookin', some gory things made vegan, and some dishes made with other people's recipes. I will only be posting my own recipes. If you want to get the recipes of other dishes, I encourage you to support these vegan chef badasses and buy their books.

For the first meal, I bring you...

Renee's Dark Side Jambalaya

I'm about as Yank as a Yankee can be, but that won't stop me from trying to cook traditional LA food. This version of jambalaya is Cajun because it lacks tomatoes. I read somewhere that the further one is from New Orleans, the less tomatoes there are in the food. I have no idea if that is true or not, but I scoped out several recipes on line and all Cajun ones lacked tomatoes.

If you're a fan of the show, you'll know in season one that Renee isn't really Cajun, he's just masquerading as one. This is some real food, but I cheated a little by cooking the rice in stock in advance and adding it to the dish at the end. All the books I have read instructs the individual to brown the meat, holy trinity of onions, bell pepper, and celery, and then put it in a pot with the rice and stock allowing everything to cook. Well, I don't have time for that. You might want to adjust the spices based on how much you can take, but I left it as-is so my daughter could eat it. I just topped it with some additional hot sauce.

You'll need:

• A rice cooker
• 3 big handfulls of dry soy curls
• 1 t. powdered nori or some sort of seaweed for fishy flavor-(optional)
  
• 8 oz. white beans (cooked)
• 1 can of black beans (rinsed and drained)
• 1 big clove of garlic
• The Holy Trinity: 50% onion, 25% celery, and 25% bell pepper. I used 1 c. of onion, and 1/2 c. of the celery and pepper
• 1.5 c rice of your choice, dry
• 1 veggie bouillon cube
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 t. vegan Worcestershire sauce
• 1T favorite hot sauce
• 1/4-1/2 t. cayenne pepper
• 1 t onion powder
• olive oil for sauteing

First things first: soak those curls in some hot water with the nori and set aside.
Get your rice cooker started with 1.5 c. dry rice + 3 c. water+ bullion and bay leaves.
Take the chopped holy trinity and garlic and saute under medium heat in a stock pot. Once they are sweaty n' soft, grab your soy curls-(MAKE SURE YOU SQUEEZE ALL THE WATER OUT) and throw those in. Save the stock for a future recipe or something. Get 'em nice n' brown. Add the spices, Worcestershire, and hot sauce. Now add the beans. Your rice should be done by now. Throw that cooked rice in the mix and give it all a good stir. Keep stirring for a few minutes, cover, keep the temp on low. Serve with some fresh parsley and extra hot sauce if needed. Look over your shoulder to make sure there aren't any fakin' Cajun dudes behind you with an axe.