I once asked a friend that was friend of a guy who won the Jambalaya contest at the Jambalaya Festival a few years back. He does not have a written recipe, he does it all by taste, but has some guidelines. Here is my expanded version of that:
1.Cook some chicken (boneless) and andouille (you can also use chunks of pork) in oil (I use corn oil) in the bottom of a cast iron pot.
2.Take out the meat once it is pretty well browned (does not need to be completely cooked), put it aside.
3.Add more oil if neede, use you judgment here. You need the oil, don't skimp.
4.Add the trinity: onion, celery, green bell pepper. (I use roughly equal amounts cutting the celery and pepper very, very fine leaving the onion rougher; maybe 1c each for a big pot).
5.Cook well, they should be soft, translucent and almost turning brown.
6.Add the meat back.
7.Here is the key: cook this mixture until "black $h!t starts to form on the bottom." (his quote). This is where you get a lot of flavor and color. If stuff is starting to burn and you don't have enough color, add a little Worcester sauce (or soy sauce in a pinch).
8.Add ~2-3 cloves of garlic and let it cook a bit. You don't want it to burn.
9.Add water according to how much rice you want to make. I just use the amounts on the pack of rice. I use regular long grain rice. It has been my experience that if you use anything else it won't taste right.
10.Once you get that water in there, you want to season it. Make your own blend, here is where I start at a minimum:
-Salt (remeber you are seasoning all that rice)
-Black pepper
-Cayenne pepper
-Garlic powder
-Onion powder
-Paprika
To a lesser extent:
-dried basil, thyme and oregano (make sure any herbs are a dried powder, I don't want to see green in my Jambalaya)
-chili powder
11.Taste the water. You have to get the spices right here, take into account that you are seasoning a lot of rice.
12.Bring to boil, add the rice and cook the rice like normal.
13.When the rice is done, take a wooden spoon and stir the pot once from bottom to top, do not over stir or it will get mushy.
14.Serve. I spice mine to my taste in the pot, but if you want you can add some hot sauce in the bowl. But, most of the Jambalaya I have had is not that hot.
This is making my mouth water, I think I am going to make some this weekend.