Do you love giving homemade holiday gifts? Do you have friends or family who are vegan or vegetarian? If you answered yes, this is the perfect vegetarian friendly, homemade Christmas food gift idea for you! This cajun dirty rice mix in a jar takes just minutes to put together, and is very affordable too!
I sent a jar of this cajun dirty rice mix to my friend Mahi, who is a vegetarian and fellow foodie. Make sure you visit her new blog Bite Out of Life for easy recipes, restaurant reviews and passionate food commentary.
Its a lot of fun to make this mix-in-a-jar-gift. Pick whatever fabrics you like for the jar, and match it with a cute ribbon. Any piece of scrap fabric lying around will do. But if you are making a lot of these gift jars, then a trip to the fabric store will be well worth it.
If you buy the rice for this recipe from the bulk aisle, it will work out pretty cheap. I use brown rice in this recipe, but white will work just as well. But remember that white rice will cook sooner, so you will have to change the cooking time to 10-15 minutes in your recipe card.
If you plan ahead, you really dont have to go buy new jars. Just save up jars of pasta sauce, jams etc. All you need is a jar with a tight fitting lid. Wash the jars well, and soak them in soapy hot water to remove the labels. I prefer to use glass jars because they are clear and show off the contents well.
Cajun Dirty Rice Mix in a Jar Recipe
For the gift jar
one 1 pint jar with a tight fitting lid
a 5″x5″ piece of fabric
a thin rubber band
some ribbon
Cardstock or any thick paper for writing instructions
Ingredients
1 cup brown rice. (You can also use white rice, but reduce cooking time to 10-15 mins in the instructions)
2 teaspoons paprika
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 large stock cube with its wrapping, I like knorrs
Cut a rectangle piece of paper (about 4×3 but doesnt have to be exact). Place the paper in the mouth of the jar to form a funnel. Pouring the ingredients through the funnel into the jar will be easier and less messy.
Layer the ingredients one at a time into the jar in this order – half the rice, paprika, garlic powder, oregano, thyme, remaining half of rice, wrapped stock cube.
Fit the lid on the jar and screw it on tight. Cover the lid with the fabric square. Place a rubber band over the fabric to secure it around the neck of the jar. Tie a ribbon in a bow around the neck of the jar, hiding the rubber band.
Write or print out these instructions on a thick piece of paper and attach to gift jar:
“Bring 2 cups of water plus the stock cube to a boil in a large sauce pan. Stir so the stock cube dissolves. When the water boils, add remaining contents of the jar. Stir. Reduce heat to low. Cover the pan with a lid. Simmer for 30 minutes or till the rice is cooked, but not mushy.
Serves 4 as a side dish.”
Pierce a little hole in the upper corner of the instructions paper, and tie it to the ribbon. Or place the instructions against the jar, and tied it around the jar using ribbon or a rubber band.
A very good idea! That rice looks delicious.
Cheers,
Rosa
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LOVING this idea! Gonna have to give one to the inlaws, my dad & my sis, who will love it, for sure. Thanks for sharing!
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What a lovely idea
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I never knew it was so easy tomake this cajun rice, love the idea of giving gifts like these.
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Excellent idea my friend & have a fantastic tip jetting around!! :_
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This is absolute genius… (which most of you ideas are:)
very simple and equally precious…
thank you for sharing
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A very nice idea!!! I cant wait to try gifting to my friends .. Thanks for sharing
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These dirty (Brown) rice are very healthy as well.
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Can anybody tell me where to find the stock cube (vegetarian), I have always seen them in chicken/beef/pork flavoured? Thanks in adavance.
Sujata
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Sala @ Veggie Belly Reply:
December 15th, 2011 at 8:07 pm
In the US you can find them in any grocery store. They are usually in the aisle with soups. They are called vegetable/vegetarian stock cubes, boullion, or vegetable base for soup. Where I live, we also get them in the bulk section.
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Sala…what a lovely post, and a lovely gift. I can’t wait to make it. It’s such a joy to open such a personal and thoughtful gift – I especially loved your note! Thanks for sending a little Veggie Belly joy my way this Christmas.
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Genius veggie gift idea! Us vegetarians can be tough to buy for – I love the idea of making homemade foodie gifts for people!
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Such a good idea! I tend to give ‘food in a jar’ gifts every year, but I’ve never done dirty rice. Thanks for the great idea!
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Interesting idea Sala! In the season on cookies, cakes and more, a simple handmade gift as this would definitely stand out..
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What a wonderful idea! And how delicious it looks:) Such thoughtful gifts are worth so much more than store brought ones.
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Very nice idea, Sala!
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Lovely idea and I got everything out to put it together, but then I have a question. You say to use a cup of rice and divide it and the other ingredients in half and layer them. The photo shows three layers and a pint jar holds not one, but 2 cups of rice. Am I missing something? I divided 2 cups of rice into thirds and wound up with 6 layers. I hope doubling the spices will turn out OK. The jar is colorful and beautiful!
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Sala @ Veggie Belly Reply:
December 20th, 2011 at 2:10 pm
youve essentially doubled the recipe – it will work fine
I did realize I put the spices in 2 layers in the photos, but in the instructions, its 1 layer. You can do it either way.
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Another great idea, Sala. Though I’m not vegetarian, I love to eat vegetarian!
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Great idea, both this rice & the dal mix.
Wonder why it’s called dirty rice!
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Sala @ Veggie Belly Reply:
December 20th, 2011 at 10:10 pm
traditional dirty rice is made with liver, which gave the rice a ‘dirty’ color.
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I have a question, Can I just throw a jar of this into my pressure cooker with the water? I use my electric pressure cooker almost every day even for my brown rice. these would be great make ahead jars for us to have in the pantry as well as gifts, Thank you
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Sala @ Veggie Belly Reply:
July 19th, 2012 at 1:18 pm
Yes, but you may need to change the amount of water used for the pressure cooker. I love my electric pressure cooker too!
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I prefer washing the rice before cooking, but the gift jar is added with all the spices and other ingredients, was wondering is the rice already cleaned..?
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Sala @ Veggie Belly Reply:
September 1st, 2012 at 7:38 pm
The pre packaged rice I use does not need to be cleaned/washed. And you don’t want to put washed or wet rice in the jar!
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Thank you so much for sharing. I have been wallowing in internet uselessness looking for a complete jar recipie (you know, not needing to add meat or fresh veggies or oil or whatnot) and have had no luck until I stumbled on to this and it’s perfect! You have saved my DIY christmas!
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I just found your website and spent hours reading all the posts! Thanks for all the wonderful sounding recipes.
I’m anxious to try this Cajun Rice recipe but have a question: The ingredients call for garlic POWDER, but the instructions mention garlic SALT. Which is correct? (I’m guessing garlic salt, since there is no salt otherwise, but I have little confidence in my seasoning abilities!)
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Sala @ Veggie Belly Reply:
May 10th, 2013 at 6:38 pm
Its garlic powder, sorry! I’ve changed the recipe to say garlic powder.
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This needs to go in a 1/2 pint jar. A pint jar holds 2 cups. That’s nearly 3/4 cups of empty space once you do the cup of rice and spices. I just doubled it once I was 2/3 full. Nice recipe–thanks for sharing!
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what is a stock cube? I am from Tamil NAdu,
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