Sounds good, Lars! I'm always baffled at how to combine chile heat with seafood. I've had it done well, but also where the shrimp's flavor was obliterated. I don't often cook shrimp, but how do you assess how much heat you can use? In your above recipe, I'm guessing the rice picks up a lot of it, and one jalapeño to 10 oz. shrimp and the given amount of rice sounds reasonable, but do you have a rule of thumb, or advice?

It does sound good, thanks for sharing. For dishes like this I just add the shrimp for the last five minutes or so, to lessen the risk of overcooking. And this is coming from someone who leans towards overcooking shrimp, as I can'y stand hitting a piece of undercooked!

The shrimp I used were pretty large, even when cut into three pieces, and they were extremely cold (barely defrosted) when I added them to the dish. They were not overcooked at all and had perfect texture, but if they had been smaller, I would have added them at the last 5 minutes.

My rule for adding heat to seafood dishes is that I am very cautious at first, and then I can add a bit more heat later if necessary, in the form of ground cayenne or hot sauce.

When I make deviled crab, I also use jalapeños, as it is usually easy to control heat with those, although they can be very unpredictable. The ones that have white lines are usually hotter.

Sounds good. It also looks like I can cut in half easily to serve just me.Thanks.

That's a different version. I've never had okra in shrimp creole, it's always had tomatoes, and the rice is usually cooked separately. I will say, now you've made me hungry for the dish.

Shrimp Creole with Okra is very popular in Louisiana and parts of Texas, and I love the flavor of okra. I often make an African dish (from Marcus Samuelsson) that is mainly okra and tomato, but I prefer Shrimp Creole without tomato, as I can taste the okra and bell pepper better.

It is common to serve the dish over rice, but when making a small batch, it is nice to cook it with the rice, as this give the rice more flavor.

This is definitely my own version of Shrimp Creole, and so I made it the way I like it without considering how it has been made historically.

When I've had it in Cuban restaurants, it had tomato and no okra and therefore less of the flavor that I like.

Incidentally, I measured the pan I used, and it is 10-1/2" diameter, but the lid I used was 9-3/4" diameter, and so it did not fit exactly right, but it still worked.

If you cut the recipe in half for one serving, you can use a smaller pan, probably 8" diameter, but it needs to be deep enough.

I was inspired by paella when I decided to cook the rice with the rest of the ingredients. When I make gumbo, I never add rice and always serve the gumbo over the rice, but it is different with shrimp creole, which lends itself to having the rice mixed in - unlike gumbo.

I understand it's your own creation. I was just sharing how it's typically made here in Louisiana.

The last time I was in Louisiana was around 1983. I used to go to New Orleans every year, either for Mardi Gras or for New Year's, until I figured out that I did not like the crowds that the Sugar Bowl attracted - they were rowdier than the Mardi Gras people, depending on which teams happened to be playing.

The last time I visited my parents in Texas was in 2012 for their funerals, and I've only been back twice since then - once to settle the estate and once for my BIL's memorial.

Lars, I appreciate Judi's contribution of classic in her vicinity, but I don't think there can be a particular recipe that is ”shrimp creole”. Usually such a particular recipe, usually would start as a published recipe or a well known restaurant dish. Otherwise, it's as one wishes, or at least with known variations. I imagine okra is used when there's a lot of okra needing using! Etc. There really is a specific recipe for Cesar Salad, for instance, which was served by a guy named Cesar in a particular restaurant in Tijuana, IIRC. Nowadays, the name is used for just about any romaine salad. :D I think your dish with okra and heat and no tomatoes sounds really good!

Sounds good, but for me, without the okra LOL It's a veg we don't see a lot here so I don't really know how to treat it; I tried it once and it was slimy.

I visited Boone Hall Plantation yesterday, where I learned that due to its sliminess, okra was used by enslaved women to induce miscarriages.

The only time I've found okra to be slimy was when it was cooked more or less by itself. I think it is possible that defrosted okra is less slimy than fresh, as it had no slime in my dish. Also, if you sauté it first, which could be done in my recipe, there will be no slime, and this is what I do when I make gumbo.

This is an interesting article on ki ngombo (West African or Bantu word for "okra"), which says that okra is a natural flavor match for shrimp. It also says that stewed okra with tomatoes and onions is a common African dish (this can easily be slimy), but tomatoes are not native to African, although okra is.

In India, okra is called "Bhindi". Here's a recipe for Bhindi Masala that looks good to me. Evidently, okra is originally from East Africa (Ethiopia and Eritrea) and then made its way across Arabia to India as early as 2000 BC.

Okra is one of my favorite vegetables, and I'm very happy to find it frozen, since it otherwise is available only in the summer. Our maid when I was little (who also cooked for us) grew okra in the patch of land that my father had set aside for her to grow vegetables. She also grew collard greens at my father's request, but he had also requested the okra.

I was previously unaware that okra (bhindi) was so common in India.

I love okra, I have gotten fried frozen okra and also just frozen okra and have used it numerous times in Louisiana style dishes and never had it slimy. My husband hates thyme and a lot of those dishes call for it, no real noticeable difference in taste without

Lars, you got the "holy trinity" right,--- the celery, sweet peppers and onions.

Re okra sliminess. My gumbo recipe calls for separately sauteeing the sliced okra in a tiny bit of oil ”until it is no longer ropy.” Yes, it will get slimy or ropy for a while, but then the slime cooks out of it.

If you are getting fried okra that is slimy, it hasn’t been cooked long enough. I grew up eating tons of okra. My 2 least favorite ways were boiled and buttered or stewed with onions and tomatoes. Both of those were slimy. My most favorite was sliced crosswise, breaded with cornmeal, and fried until almost but not quite burnt. I can still eat my weight in it fried like that!