One of my favorite parts of traveling is getting to try out new foods. It doesn’t matter if I take an afternoon spin on the motorcycle to the next town over, or spend a semester studying in another country, I’m going to seek out somewhere new to eat. When I was in Ireland for a semester, I checked out some cookbooks of traditional Irish food. Using these as a starting point, my wife and I were able to sample some “real” Irish food and discover what we liked, and what we didn’t.

Fortunately, you don’t have to go anywhere to get recipes to try out. No flying to another country necessary. The internet provides recipes for just about anything that you can think of, and most ingredients can be found in local grocery stores, though you might have to search a bit harder to find some.

If you’ve been in the mood for something different, or perhaps you just want to try your hand at cooking your own “foreign” meals, look something up and see what you can find. My wife and I just had Jambalaya, from a recipe I found online. It tasted great, and was really easy to make. Next on the list: Chicken Curry. Big jump from Louisiana to India, I know. But it’s entirely possible when you’re a kitchen explorer!

Where will you travel to? To get you started, head on down to Cajun country for some Jambalaya.

Quick and Easy Jambalaya

(originally from here)

20 Mins prep time
30 Mins cook time
Makes about 6 servings

Ingredients
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
• 8 ounces kielbasa, diced
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 cup diced celery
• 2 tablespoons chopped garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• salt and ground black pepper to taste
• 2 cups uncooked white rice
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 3 bay leaves
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce

Directions
• Heat oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Saute chicken and kielbasa until lightly browned, about 5 minutes.
• Stir in onion, bell pepper, celery and garlic. Season with cayenne, onion powder, salt and pepper. Cook 5 minutes, or until onion is tender and translucent.
• Add rice, then stir in chicken stock and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer 20 minutes, or until rice is tender.
• Stir in the Worcestershire sauce and hot pepper sauce.

Suggestions
I made the recipe as stated. These suggestions come from comments on the original page, some that I will most likely try next go-around.
• add tomato sauce/diced tomatoes/Ro-tel
• add more garlic
• use half green onion / half white onion
• use cajun/creole seasoning in place of salt & pepper
• add a can of drained red beans and a can of diced tomatoes w/green chiles