Mooloolaba Seafood Jambalaya BBQ Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons sunflower oil
• 100g spicy chorizo sausage, thickly sliced
• 4 chicken drumsticks, skin off
• 250g raw king prawns, peeled and deveined, heads and shells reserved
• 1 large white onion, diced
• 1 green capsicum, diced
• 1 stick celery, diced
• 1 cup canned diced tomatoes
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 6 sprigs of thyme
• 2 fresh bay leaves
• 250g long-grain rice
• 1 litre chicken stock
• 1 tablespoon Cajun Spice Mix
• salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 2 medium male blue swimmer crabs, cooked, halved and cleaned
• 2 large moreton bay bugs halved and cleaned
• 100g cleaned squid
• 2 spring onions, finely sliced, to serve
• 1 long green chili, chopped, to serve

Cajun Spice Mix

Place the fried onion and garlic in a bowl, along with the remaining ingredients, and blitz to a fine powder using a handheld blender. The spice will keep for 1 month if stored in an airtight container.

• 2 cups sunflower oil
• 3 tablespoons fried asian shallots (buy in Asian grocers)
• 1 tablespoon fried garlic (buy in Asian grocers)
• 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
• 1 tablespoon celery salt
• 1 tablespoon dried thyme
• 1 tablespoon fennel seeds

Method

Heat the oil in a large casserole dish or electric frying pan and cook the chorizo and chicken over medium–high heat until the chicken is golden and the chorizo is crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon, leaving the oil in the pan.

Reduce the heat to low–medium. Fry the prawn heads and shells for 5 minutes, squashing them with a potato masher to extract their flavour. Remove with a slotted spoon and discard.

Add the onion, capsicum and celery and sauté until soft. Stir in the tomatoes, garlic, thyme and bay leaves and cook for 5 minutes. Add the rice, stock, chicken and chorizo to the pan, then season with the Cajun Spice, salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes.

Place the crab halves into the rice. Push the bug halves into the rice and place the prawns and calamari on top, Cover and cook for a further 5 minutes.

Turn off the heat and allow too rest for a few minutes. Stir the rice to loosen it and arrange the seafood and check that it’s all cooked. Serve the dish sprinkled with the spring onions, chopped chilli and lime wedges.

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