Vegan Dirty Rice

In celebration of Black History Month, I've been eagerly exploring and planning some delicious ideas. I wanted to focus on common food ingredients that are familiar to both my heritage and across the caribbeans— particularly diving into their African roots, spices, and recipes. Ingredients like cassava, fish with tomato paste, rice, and beans are common threads across the Caribbean. Of course, their combinations vary from country to country, shaped by historical events and cultural influences. While I’m already familiar with Dominican cuisine, I wanted to broaden my focus to the diaspora—exploring how these recipes and ingredients traveled, evolved, and ultimately influenced the Southern American dishes we enjoy today.

Dirty rice looks familiar to me as arroz con pollo (rice and chicken) tossed with red kidney beans. The difference, I found, were of course it’s rich cajun seasoning as well as its southern roots deeply nested in Louisiana. Dirty rice gets it’s name from white rice stirred together with a myriad of meats such as liver, pork, chicken, beef, etc. This hot delicious mess is tossed with vegetables such as celery, onion, bell peppers of all colors, and seasoned with bold cajun spices that only make this dirty dish very exciting. It was known to be a dish mainly cultivated by poor families in Louisiana who were left with mainly chicken organs. Overtime, more ingredients such as sausage and other local cheap ingredients were then added to the pot.

This is definitely a one-pot meal that deserves some attention. Great for weeknight meals or the perfect pot luck for a festive event, this is the true all-in-one pot of gold. Packed with massive loads of flavor from sweet, salty, spicy, savory, tangy, you get it. Aromatics has a pretty significant role here. And yes, this particular recipe is vegan :)

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Vegan Dirty Rice

Ingredients

• 4 oz. of plant-based ground beef

• 1/2 tablespoon olive oil

• 1/2 small onion, finely diced

• 2 cloves garlic minced

• 1 celery stalk chopped

• ½  medium green bell pepper

• ½  medium red pepper

• 2 teaspoon cajun seasoning

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1 teaspoon onion powder

• ½ teaspoon pepper

• 1 1/4 teaspoon salt

• ½  cup vegetable broth divided

• 2 cups white rice cooked

• Green onion chopped for garnish

Instructions

1. In a large saute pan, heat oil over medium-high heat and add plant-based ground meat. Saute until browned, about 8 minutes.

2. Add vegetables and garlic. Saute until browned, about 5 minutes.

3. Add seasonings and stir until well combined. Cook for about 5 minutes.

4. Deglaze pan with ½ cup of vegetable broth and cook down, about 5 minutes.

5. Add rice and cook for about 10 minutes.

6. Serve and garnish with green onions.