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Dirty Rice
Serves 6 Prep 15 min Cook 50 min Total 1 hr 5 min Type Meal Origin Cajun

Dirty Rice

Cajun dirty rice: white rice cooked with browned chicken livers and minced pork with the trinity and Cajun spice, the meat tinting the rice grey-brown.

Serves 6 Prep 15 minutes Cook 50 minutes Units Rate

Overview

A staple of the Cajun home kitchen, the rice dish that turns up alongside fried chicken at Sunday lunch or as a centre-of-the-plate dinner on a Wednesday. You blitz chicken livers to a fine paste (so they melt into the rice rather than appearing as recognisable pieces - the texture is the point), brown minced beef or pork hard for colour, then add the Cajun trinity of onion, celery and bell pepper to soften in the rendered fat. Cajun spice blooms in the heat, rice toasts in the same pan, stock pours in, and everything simmers covered until the rice is tender and has drunk up the cooking liquid. The result is grey-brown rice studded with meat and trinity. The "dirty" name describes the look (livers staining the grains) not the cleanliness. Eaten with hot sauce on the table and a wedge of cornbread on the side.

Ingredients

  • 200 g chicken livers (trimmed)
  • 250 g minced pork (or beef)
  • 3 tablespoons vegetable oil (or pork fat)
  • 1 onion (large, chopped)
  • 3 celery sticks (chopped)
  • 1 green pepper (chopped)
  • 6 garlic cloves (crushed)
  • 1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • ½ teaspoon cayenne (or to taste)
  • 350 g long-grain white rice (rinsed)
  • 800 ml chicken stock
  • 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper

To finish

  • 4 spring onions (sliced)
  • A small bunch of flat-leaf parsley (chopped)
  • Hot sauce (to serve)

Method

Stage 1 - Liver paste

  1. Pulse the chicken livers in a food processor to a smooth paste; or chop very fine with a sharp knife.

Stage 2 - Brown the meat

  1. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a heavy pot over medium-high heat.
  2. Add the minced pork; cook 5-6 minutes, breaking it up, until well-browned.
  3. Add the liver paste; cook 4-5 minutes, stirring, until cooked through and slightly crumbly.
  4. Lift everything out into a bowl; reserve.

Stage 3 - Trinity

  1. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil to the pot.
  2. Cook the onion, celery and green pepper 8 minutes until soft.
  3. Add the garlic; cook 1 minute.

Stage 4 - Spice and rice

  1. Stir in the Cajun seasoning, bay, thyme, oregano and cayenne; cook 1 minute.
  2. Add the rice; toast 2 minutes.

Stage 5 - Cook

  1. Return the meat mixture to the pot.
  2. Pour in the stock, Worcestershire, salt and pepper; bring to the boil.
  3. Reduce to lowest heat; cover; cook 18-20 minutes.
  4. Off the heat, rest covered 10 minutes.

Stage 6 - Finish

  1. Discard the bay leaves.
  2. Fluff with a fork.
  3. Stir in half the spring onions and parsley.

Stage 7 - Serve

  1. Pile onto plates; top with the remaining spring onions and parsley.
  2. Pass hot sauce at the table. Eats well as a side to fried chicken, étouffée, or alongside red beans.

Notes

  • Liver is the soul: Without the chicken livers, this is just spiced rice with mince. The liver gives the iron-rich savoury depth that defines dirty rice.
  • Blitz the liver: Coarse pieces of liver in finished dirty rice put many people off. Smooth-blended, it disappears into the rice as flavour.
  • Don't lift the lid: Steam is what cooks the rice through. Set a timer.

Storage

  • Keeps 4 days refrigerated; reheats well with a splash of stock.
  • Freezes 3 months.

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