Gumbo, a southern Louisiana delicacy…
We are having a sizzling hot summer and today has been a scorcher! I have been keeping myself cool of course by staying indoors, also by drinking lots of cold water and homemade fruit juices. I love yogurt shakes better than milkshakes, it’s healthy and helps to cool down quickly. So everyone out there stay cool.
A couple of days ago I made gumbo for dinner. Gumbo is the name of a dish, to be precise it is the official cuisine of Louisiana. It basically has a stew constituency and you’ll see a lot of ingredients in just one bowl of gumbo. It could be made of shell fish or it can be made of chicken, sausage etc. I have had shell fish gumbo quite a few times, it was so flavorful and a bowl was enough to fill my stomach. You could even see the vegetable holy trinity of celery, bell peppers and onion in it. Gumbo is often thickened by using the vegetable Okra or with roux. Usually gumbo falls under slow cooking category. However, I wanted to make it fast and so baked the chicken before adding it to the gumbo. It can be served by itself or over white rice.
I made my gumbo using baked chicken and added okra to thicken it, I also added tomato paste, cajun seasoning and oregano to flavor it. It tasted so delicious that it was hard for me to stop with just one bowl. And the leftovers tasted equally good, may be more flavorful. You could go little overboard and load your gumbo with your favorite veggies, meat or even shell fish, all versions will taste great.
For making this dish, I added fresh oregano harvested from my veggie garden.
Oregano from my Herb Garden
Chicken and Okra Gumbo
Ingredients:
To bake:
- Chicken Breasts- 3
- Ground Cumin- 1 1/2 tsp
- Ground pepper- 1/8 tsp/ breast
- Salt- little to sprinkle on chicken
Gumbo ingredients:
- Oil- 2 tbsp
- Onion, chopped- 1, large
- Garlic, chopped- 4 cloves
- Green pepper, chopped- 1
- Celery, chopped- 2 stalks
- Oregano, fresh or dried- 2 stalks or 2 tsp dried
- Okra, cut round- 1 packet or 15
- Chicken Bouillon cube- 1/2 cube
- Water- 2 cups
- Chill powder- 1/2 tsp
- Ground pepper- 1/2 tsp
- Ground cumin- 1/2 tsp
- Cajun seasoning (optional)- 1 tbsp
- Tomato paste- 4 tbsp
Instruction
- Preheat oven to 375 F.
- Sprinkle ground cumin, ground pepper and salt over the chicken breasts.
- Place it on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil and grease the foil with cooking spray.
- Bake for the first 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes flip it over and bake for another 20 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and cut the chicken into long stripes.
- Place a large pan or dutch oven over medium heat, add oil to it.
- Add onion and saute for a few minutes.
- Add garlic to it and saute for a minute.
- Now, add oregano, green pepper, celery and okra to the pan
- Cover the pan with its lid and cook till veggies turn tender.
- Add 1/2 bouillon cube and 2 cups water to the veggies.
- Sprinkle, chili powder, ground cumin, ground pepper and cajun seasoning to the mixture.
- Cover and cook till okra has cooked well.
- Add chicken stripes and cook for 5 more minutes.
- Add tomato paste and combine well, cook for another 2 minutes.
- If it’s too thick you can thin it down by adding water.
- Remove the pan from the heat, serve the gumbo over white rice on a plate or large bowl.
Tips:
- You could use low sodium chicken stock instead of water.
- For a vegetarian version: Skip chicken and make just with veggies.
- For a sea food version: Add shell fish instead of chicken, you don’t have to bake the shell fish. You have to add shell fish along with the veggies and cook till shell fish has cooked well.
- Chicken Breasts- 3
- Ground Cumin- 1½ tsp
- Ground pepper- ⅛ tsp/ breast
- Salt- little to sprinkle on chicken
- Oil- 2 tbsp
- Onion, chopped- 1, large
- Garlic, chopped- 4 cloves
- Green pepper, chopped- 1
- Celery, chopped- 2 stalks
- Oregano, fresh or dried- 2 stalks or 2 tsp dried
- Okra, cut round- 1 packet or 15
- Chicken Bouillon cube- ½ cube
- Water- 2 cups
- Chill powder- ½ tsp
- Ground pepper- ½ tsp
- Ground cumin- ½ tsp
- Cajun seasoning (optional)- 1 tbsp
- Tomato paste- 4 tbsp
- Preheat oven to 375 F.
- Sprinkle ground cumin, ground pepper and salt over the chicken breasts.
- Place it on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil and grease the foil with cooking spray.
- Bake for the first 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes flip it over and bake for another 20 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and cut the chicken into long stripes.
- Place a large pan or dutch oven over medium heat, add oil to it.
- Add onion and saute for a few minutes.
- Add garlic to it and saute for a minute.
- Now, add oregano, green pepper, celery and okra to the pan
- Cover the pan with its lid and cook till veggies turn tender.
- Add ½ bouillon cube and 2 cups water to the veggies.
- Sprinkle, chili powder, ground cumin, ground pepper and cajun seasoning to the mixture.
- Cover and cook till okra has cooked well.
- Add chicken stripes and cook for 5 more minutes.
- Add tomato paste and combine well, cook for another 2 minutes.
- If it's too thick you can thin it down by adding water.
- Remove the pan from the heat, serve the gumbo over white rice on a plate or large bowl.
•For a vegetarian version: Skip chicken and make just with veggies.
•For a sea food version: Add shell fish instead of chicken, you don't have to bake the shell fish. You have to add shell fish along with the veggies and cook till shell fish has cooked well.
