So yesterday I was pondering what to make for dinner. While visiting my neighborhood store I came across a jar of cajun seasoning and I thought to myself “self you have not made any New Orleans-style food in a long time.” I started formulating my Whole Food Plant Based version of a jambalaya. This is not the easiest to make Whole Food Plant Based, because of heavy use of meats in the dish. I could have easily used a variety of the plant “meats”, but they are not WFPB compliant. I chose instead to focus on lots of fresh vegetables and in keeping with the current program that I am on, Engine 2’s 10X, I made sure that I had plenty of greens included. If I were not on the 10X program, I would have included some Soy Curls to give it a poultry-like texture.
Recipe
1 medium Red Onion
3 stalks of Celery
1 Red Bell Pepper
1/3 Orange Bell Pepper
1/3 Yellow Bell Pepper
1 Zucchini
1 Yellow Squash
Tips from 1 bunch of Asparagus (thick stalks)
1 8 ounce package of frozen Cauliflower and Broccoli blend
1 cup frozen Sweet Corn
1 and 1/2 cup (170 gr) frozen Riced Cauliflower
1 can of No Salt Added Diced Tomatoes
1 cup sprouted Brown Rice
3 cups of Fat and Salt Free Vegetable Stock
Seasonings
2 tbsp Salt Free Cajun Seasoning
2 tbsp Granulated Garlic
1 tbsp Poultry Seasoning
1 tbsp Dried Oregano
1 tbsp Smoked Paprika
1 tbsp Black Pepper
1 tbsp Vegan Worcestershire Sauce
1 tsp Low Sodium Hot Sauce
3 Bay Leaves
Directions
I used my Instant Pot to prepare this meal. Start by cutting the Onion and Peppers into a large dice. Slice the Celery to be about the same size. Sauté in the Instant Pot with some water to prevent sticking. When Onions become translucent add in the seasonings and blend / sauté to fragrance the spices. Cut the Zucchini and Yellow Squash in to four long strips then into large dice. Add all the remaining ingredients in to the instant pot and pressure cook for 20 mins then a 10 minute natural release followed by quick release. Serve and enjoy.
Option Idea
One option you might try is using various mushrooms sautéed separately with some dried kelp seasoning added at the time of service to help give the effect of seafood. I did not have any mushrooms to try this.