This is a take on gumbo, a popular dish in Louisiana. Gumbo is history in a stew. It is influenced by West-African cuisines, Native American foodways, and European culture and is today considered to be part of Cajun cuisine. This dish will make your kitchen smell delightfully of home-cooked food as it simmer. Serve with white rice, brown rice or quinoa+rice pilaf.
Ingredients
Oil
- 1 ½ Tablespoon avocado, sesame, canola oil, peanut, or light olive oil
Flour
- 2 Tablespoons
Sausage*
- 4 oz (2 links) andouille sausage, chopped
Onion
- 1 each
Pepper
- 1 each, green bell pepper (or red/yellow/orange), diced
Celery
- 3 stalks, chopped
Mushrooms
- 1 cup, chopped
Garlic
- 4 cloves, minced
Vegetable**
- 3 cups green vegetable, chopped
Beans
- 1 (16-oz) can kidney beans, low sodium
Stock
- 3 cups vegetable or chicken stock
Hot_sauce
- 2 teaspoon
Worcestershire_sauce
- 1 ½ Tablespoon
Bayleaf
- 1 whole
Paprika
- 2 Tablespoon ground
Garlic
- 2 Tablespoon powder
Cumin
- ¼ teaspoon ground
Herbs
- 2 teaspoon dry basil thyme, parsley, oregano
Chili_powder
- ½ teaspoon
Cayenne_pepper
- ¼ teaspoon ground
Pepper
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
Salt
- 2 teaspoons (to taste)
Instructions
Step 1
Make roux: Combine vegetable oil and all-purpose flour in a small pan. Cook over a medium high heat, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula. Cook until dark brown. Transfer from the pan to a heat-safe bowl and let cool while preparing other ingredients
Step 2
Chop all vegetables and set aside.
Step 3
In a large pot heated over medium high heat, cook sausage until browned. Remove the sausage from the pan with a slotted spoon and reserve.
Step 4
With the drippings from the sausage still in the pot, add the chopped onions, green bell pepper, and celery. Cook for 10-15 minutes until the vegetables are soft and onions are translucent.
Step 5
Add the mushrooms and garlic. Cook until the mushrooms have released their liquids, about 5 minutes.
Step 6
Add the stock, worcestershire sauce, and hot sauce. Bring to a boil.
Step 7
Once boiling, add in the previously made roux in small amounts, stirring constantly.
Step 8
Add all of the dry seasonings, and lower the heat to low.
Step 9
Simmer the gumbo for 45 minutes. The longer it cooks, the better it will taste. If you cook it for longer than an hour, cover the pot to prevent too much liquid loss.
Step 10
(Alternately, all ingredients other than the roux can be added to a crock pot at the same time and cooked on the low setting for 6-8 hours and the high setting for 4-6 hours. Add the roux at the end to thicken the gumbo and add flavor.)
Notes
*Any spicy sausage will work for this recipe. Try chorizo, spicy italian sausage, or kielbasa.
**The best vegetables for this recipe are okra, zucchini, and green beans. Okra is the traditional choice and tends to work best!