Fried. Rice. We all love it, and if you don’t, you’re probably just kidding yourself. And dirty fried rice is just the name given to fried rice with bits of chopped meat in it — they give the end result a kind of “dirty” look, which is how the dish got its name. Ok, enough talk — let’s cook with Wine & Dine with Jeff!
This Louisiana staple, dirty rice, is a rice pilaf style dish. It is traditionally made with finely diced chicken livers, ground beef, Cajun seasonings, and the Cajun holy trinity: onion, green bell pepper and celery. If you aren’t a chicken liver lover, no worries — you can also use a combination of ground beef and pork. Why is it called “dirty rice”? The name comes from the appearance of the dish. The inclusion of all those tiny bits of browned meat, spices and vegetables makes the rice look dirty. I love to use my old cast iron pan to cook the dirty rice because it is the best at browning the meat.
Ingredients
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1 pound of ground beef or you can use ground pork
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1/2 pound of chicken livers
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4 Tablespoons of Vegetable oil
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4 Tablespoons of All Purpose Flour
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1/3 cup of finely diced green pepper
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1/3 cup of finely diced shallot
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4 Garlic cloves minced
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1 1/3 cups 11 Oz of beef broth
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3 cups of cooked Jasmine rice (that is 1 cup of uncooked rice)
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1 Teaspoon of Paprika
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1 Teaspoon of Cumin
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1/2 Teaspoon of Ground Black Pepper
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1/2 Teaspoon of ground Cayenne pepper
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Salt to Taste
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Directions
1.Start with slicing up the chicken livers into tiny little pieces almost like ground beef. That way when they brown in the pan they are not as easy to break apart as ground beef.
2. Put your seasoned cast iron on the burner and turn the burner to medium high heat. When the cast iron is hot add the ground beef — I used 90/10. Break apart the ground beef and cook for 2 minutes to render the fat out. When the fat has rendered out and there is oil in the pan from the rendered fat, add the chopped chicken livers and cook for another 6 minutes. You want to get a great brown color on all the proteins in the pan. Don’t forget to salt the meats while they are browning in the cast iron pan.
3. If your pan is not hot enough and you need to cook past 8 minutes, cook until you have a great color on the meats. Then remove the meats from the cast iron and set aside. There should be leftover browned meat stuck on the bottom of the cast iron. That is fabulous because that will help flavor the roux.
4. Turn the burner down to a medium heat and add the vegetable oil to the cast iron. Then sprinkle in the flour and stir to combine the oil and flour. This is the beginning of making the roux. The most important step is that you have to have constant stirring of the flour and oil for 8 minutes. While you are stirring, scrape the bottom of the cast iron pan to remove all the stuck on brown bits of meat to help flavor the roux. At the end of 8 minutes, the roux should have a milk chocolate or dark peanut butter color.
5. Then add the green pepper and shallot to the roux and cook for 2 minutes. After cooking the vegetables, slowly stir in the beef broth. In a few minutes the roux will start to thicken up. Right after you add the beef broth stir in all the spices — paprika, cumin, cayenne pepper and freshly cracked pepper. You want to cook the roux for another 6 to 8 minutes after you add the broth and spices. Check for salt at this time (remember, beef broth does have a high sodium content). The roux will taste spicy at this time but remember you are adding the meat and rice into the roux and it will mellow out.
6. Stir in all the browned meat to the roux. You want to have the rice cooked in advance. I always cook my rice with stock to give the rice more flavor. 1 cup of dried rice will give you 3 cups of cooked rice. Stir in all the rice with the meat and roux mixture. Top with the green parts of scallions and serve. This is a family friendly recipe that everyone will love!
Okay, YUM! Will you be making dirty fried rice for dinner tonight? Let us know in the comments!
Want More Delicious Dinner Recipes From Jeff? Then You’ll Love:
This Pad See Ew Recipe Will Knock Your Tastebuds Off
This Chicken Under A Brick Recipe Will Give You A Perfectly Cooked Chicken Every Time
