Seitanic Red and White Bean Jambalaya

So I have this lovely fresh seitan. What to do, what to do? Since it is a Sunday night and I have no life, I figured I could spare the hour and a half to make Seitanic Red & White Bean Jambalaya. I have no idea what Jambalaya is, but it sounds nice. I just like saying it. Jambalaya, jambalaya, jambalaya.

And with that out of my system..
Cannellini beans are the "white" and plain ol' Kidney beans are the "red" in this dish. I diced the seitan up into chunks and fried with some onion, green capsicum, celery and garlic. Along with the garlic in the seitan, I am grateful my boyfriend is not here tonight. Then I had to add some tomato paste and rice. Before I started this, I saw rice in the recipe and set a pot of rice to cook in my rice cooker. Then I read the recipe more closely and realised you cook the rice in the juice of the meal. So now I have a batch of cooked brown rice in the fridge and an embarrassing explanation of how it came to be.
After cooking all this up with a bunch of spices, it went into the oven for 45 minutes. I don't have a dutch oven so my trusty glazed stoneware roasting pan and some aluminium foil were the substitute. Ten minutes to rest and ta-da! My very first jambalaya.





It turns out that Jambalaya is just a fancy word for casserole. Sure, its a creole casserole but still - reminds me of meals my mum served up in the 80s when casseroles were the thing. The rice was a little stiff but I always find that with brown rice. It does mean it microwaves to perfection the next day though. I had diced the seitan into chunks about 2 inches wide but I have "issues" with texture and it was too much for a single bite. It was chewy and had a meaty texture but too spongy for my liking. I think I could solve this easily by cutting smaller chunks and frying it a little longer. Altogether, it was hearty and gave me a lovely warm feeling in my belly. Not spicy either, which I actually expected it to be. Definitely something to try perfecting in the future.