Red beans and rice

capital_prototype indirectly challenged Sawsheezle to try and make some "non-Mexican" food. He suggested a cajun staple: red beans and rice. These are the results:

The setup:

I found a recipe online link and tried to follow it for some initial attempt. Ingredients are

1lb dry red beans
1 green bell pepper
1 bunch celery
1 onion
some garlic cloves
smoked sausage (I could only find kielbasa for cheap)
3-4 bay leaves
1tbsp thyme
1tbsp sage
2tbsp old bay seasoning

Firstly, I cooked the red beans in my pressure cooker similar to how I prepared the black beans. I cooked them under pressure for about 30 mins, but they weren't quite done, but that was ok because I would simmer everything together for awhile anyway. I chopped up the "top" and "bottom" of the celery (leaving almost the entire "heart"), the onion, and added the pressed garlic to some oil in a hot skillet. The bay leaves were thrown in as well.

At this point, my kitchen smelled like Chinese food. Must be the frying celery. I thought I would be clever and "brown" the smoked sausage at the same time.

Then I tossed the veggie mixture, the sausage, 2 or so cups of water into a big stock pot and turned it on high. The thyme, sage, and old bay were added ad things got to a boil. Then the beans were added. Everything was brought to a boil and then let to simmer while things thickened up and the flavors intertwined.

I kept this in the fridge and heated up a single portion, cooked some rice, and poured cajun mixture on top of rice. Added a bit of parsley for a nice photo and here you go.

The verdict? It's good. It's not Mexican food though. Also, Tabasco, which I consider to be the only hot sauce for eggs, just doesn't work here. Maybe I'll try to get some Louisiana or Crystal brand sauce? This thing was screaming for a nice salsa verde though to complement the spicy bean stew. Perhaps I'll just have to make some green salsa then?