Sometimes you need to revisit cookbooks. When you first buy them there are always a few recipes that you really want to cook but it sometimes takes a couple of revisits before you find a hidden gem. And then you wonder why on earth it took you so long to make. Enter seitanic red and white bean jambalaya from Veganomicon.
I’m not entirely sure why it has taken me so long to try this recipe but I can tell you it won’t be long before I have it again (not including leftovers I’ve got for lunch!). And on that point, this recipe makes a huge amount! I made around 2/3 of it to fit around how much seitan I had, but I didn’t measure everything exactly – and I still got 5 decent portions. But when a dish tastes as good as this that’s no problem.
For European readers – I’ve had a love affair with Topas smoked seitan steaks for some time now. Their strong smoky flavour means that you can’t use them in just any seitan recipe, but I find them very good in Mexican dishes and thought they’d work well here too – and I was right!
My only complaint with the recipe was the timing. I used brown rice and the recipe said that would need 45 minutes to cook. After 45 it was still crunchy, so I gave it probably an extra 20-25 minutes, and it was perfect that way. I can’t find celery seeds anywhere here here so I did as I usualy do and subbed half celery salt and half fennel seeds.
This was a really tasty, hearty, stick-to-your-ribs sort of dish. I’ve never eaten any sort of jambalaya before, and I’m sure it can’t really be authentic, but honestly, who cares?
Cooking the Vegan Books 
I haven’t tried that jambalaya yet either. I think I need to see the finished product before I make stuff sometimes. Your picture definitely helps in that department! Looks great.
you know, I can’t even remember seeing that recipe in the book but I think I will make a mental note to try it some time and am off to go and see what ingredients is has so when I have the right stuff in and I can do it!