Before talking about Cajun seasoning, lets first understand the origin of both Cajun and Creole. Both ethnic communities currently reside in Louisiana, USA. Both communities originate from immigrants of the French colonies in North America, namely in USA and Canada. The Acadians later known as Cajuns were one of first Europeans to come and settle in Canada, particularly in Nova Scotia and areas nearby collectively then called Acadia. They were all from France.

The Creole were also immigrants from France, who settled in Louisiana which was another French colony. This one had a huge population African slaves. Louisiana was temporarily given to Spain before being taken back by France sometime later. Therefore Spanish and Latin American influence can be seen in its culture.

In 1755 the British exiled the people of Acadia from Canada forcing them to settle in nearby Louisiana, particularly in the swamp area also called the “Bayou”. Which heavily influenced there culture and cuisine ultimately. The Cajuns were a lot more conservative and had to make do with what they had around them. Hence Cajun Cuisine is lot more rustic having fewer ingredients that were possible to grow in such a harsh terrain. They learned to live off the land. That is why you see crawfish, shrimp, catfish and even alligators as part of their cuisine. The have also included their version of creole dishes into their cuisine with has fewer ingredients. The basis for most Creole and Cajun dishes is a mirepoix consisting onions, bell peppers and celery called “The Holy trinity”(in a ratio of 2:1:1 respectively) along with garlic “The Pope”. Its difficult to grow carrots in Louisiana, so they use bell peppers instead. Also an oil or lard based roux is used instead of butter as a thickener in Cajun cuisine. Tomatoes are rarely used. As explained earlier Cajun cuisine was developed to live off the Bayou.

Hence Cajun seasoning blend is lot more simpler due to availability of ingredients than Creole seasoning blend which has a few more ingredients.

My recipe for Cajun seasoning blend is as follows-

Cajun Seasoning

Iconic spice mix from the Cajun community of Louisiana, Usa

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Cuisine American, Cajun

Ingredients

  

• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp black pepper powder
• 1/2-1 tsp kashmiri/byadgi/cayene chilli powder
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• 2 tsp smoked paprika

Keyword Cajun

This blend can be used for dishes like Gumbo, BBQ Shrimp, Jambalaya, Etouffee and seafood boil etc.