Dirty Rice Variation: A Spicy Dish

If you like spicy dishes or fried rice, you will enjoy “Dirty Rice.” Dirty Rice is a traditional Louisiana Creole dish. It is made from white rice which gets a "dirty" color from being cooked with small pieces of pork, beef or chicken, bell pepper, celery, onion, and Cajun-style spices. Dirty rice is common in the Creole regions of Southern Louisiana. Recipe Below.

Dirty RicePhoto byColorado Martini

When I first married my Georgia-born husband decades ago, he asked if I knew how to make Dirty Rice. “Dirty Rice? What the heck is Dirty Rice.” He soon made a batch and I was hooked. Now it has become a common filling main dish in our household. I usually make a large batch on a Sunday and we eat the rice all week long.

The dish can be traced back to the Antebellum era of Southern Louisiana in the late 1700s. Enslaved individuals from the coast of West Africa, who included rice in many aspects of their diets, were brought to Louisiana. They adapted their rice dishes to what was available to their families. Rice combined with the organ meat and animal parts provided by the slave owners, were the primary components of dirty rice. The meat was diced and then mixed in with the rice mixture.

Over time, ingredients such as spicy Andouille sausage and ground beef became popular, instead of chicken livers and pig intestines. I am pleased about that change.

If you have some vegetables or meat you are trying to use up. Dirty Rice is a perfect recipe for this. My recipe calls for sausage. But I am known to put in some ham, ground beef, bacon, etc. If my recipe is too mild for you, add a little Cayenne. Or wait until it is done, and sprinkle some hot sauce on the rice.

This dish is very hearty and might not be a great side dish. It is fantastic for potlucks or quick meals.

Have you ever heard of Dirty Rice? Let us know in the comments.

Dirty Rice Variation

• 1 cup long to med grain rice
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 pound sausage
• ½ to 1 red onion, diced
• ½ cup carrot diced or shredded
• ½ cup celery diced
• 1 red sweet pepper diced
• 4 mushrooms diced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Green onions chopped for garnish (optional)

1. In a pot, crumble or slice and cook sausage until browned.
2. Add vegetables, seasoning, and garlic, and continue to sauté for 2 minutes.
3. Add chicken broth.
4. Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer. Cook tightly covered for 25 minutes on low heat.
5. Turn off the stove and let sit on top of the heated burner for 10 to 15 minutes covered.
6. Lift the lid and fluff with a fork. Serve hot and garnish with green onions.

Do you have different ingredients in your Dirty Rice? Let us know in the comments.

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References

• Wikipedia