This one-pot seafood gumbo rice serves two and cooks in a single pan. The recipe was created by Ken Chia, chef-owner of Rice & Fries, in 2015. It borrows the flavours of gumbo, with the “holy trinity” of onion, pepper and celery, a spice-heavy base, sausage and seafood. Instead of a stew served over rice, the rice cooks in the stock and takes on everything around it.
What you need
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil, for frying
- 1 large yellow onion, diced
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled
- A dash of white wine
- ½ red bell pepper and ½ yellow bell pepper, sliced
- 1 cup uncooked white rice
- ½ tsp each dried oregano, basil and thyme
- 2 tsp each onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper and paprika
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 100g chicken, diced
- 3 lady’s fingers (okra), sliced
- 2 celery sticks, sliced
- ½ chorizo sausage
- 4 prawns
The method
- Heat the oil in a pan. Add the onion and garlic and stir-fry until golden brown.
- Pour in the white wine, then add the bell peppers, rice and all the herbs and seasoning. Stir until everything is well mixed and the rice is coated in spice.
- Pour the chicken stock slowly over the rice. Stir now and then so the grains do not stick to the base of the pan.
- When the rice is almost cooked, which the recipe puts at about 20 minutes, add the chicken, okra, celery, chorizo and prawns. Mix well.
- Once the rice is cooked through, divide between two plates and serve.
Why it works
Frying the onion until golden builds the savoury base. The rice then soaks up the wine, spices and stock, so every grain carries flavour. The paprika and red pepper flakes give the dish its warmth, and the dried herbs add the earthy notes that make it taste like gumbo.
Adding the meat and seafood only near the end is the key timing choice. Prawns and diced chicken cook quickly in the steam of the nearly finished rice, so they stay tender. The chorizo adds smoky, paprika-laced fat, and the okra and celery bring texture and a little freshness.
Tips and variations
Keep the heat moderate once the stock goes in. Rice that catches on the bottom of the pan is the most common problem in a one-pot dish, and regular stirring in the early stage is what prevents it.
The recipe calls for only one cup of stock to one cup of rice, so check the pan as it finishes. If the rice still has bite and the pan looks dry, a small splash of extra stock or water and a few more minutes covered over low heat will help. Add it gradually rather than all at once.
Slice the okra and celery fairly thin so they cook through in the short time they spend in the pan. The okra will also lend the rice a slightly silky texture, as it does in a traditional gumbo.
The spice level is easy to adjust. The red pepper flakes are the main source of heat, so reduce them for a milder pot or add more for a bolder one. The recipe asks for plain white rice, and long-grain varieties suit a dish where the grains should stay separate.
The quantities suit a dinner for two. A larger pan and more of each ingredient would feed more people, but the stock and cooking time would need adjusting, so cook it in small batches if you want to follow the recipe closely.
Serve it straight from the pan while the prawns are still hot. Since the dish already includes the starch, meat, seafood and vegetables, it needs no side to make a complete meal.