HOW TO MAKE PARTY JOLLOF
Party jollof rice is a term you will often hear in Nigeria, particularly in and around Lagos State. But what exactly is it and why the sensation surrounding this topic? We explored just that this week and came up with a few surprises. The spice, the burn, and arguably the way it steams makes all the difference.
- Prep time
- 14 min
- Cook time
- 31 min
- Yield
- 6 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 4 tablespoons oil
- 1 large onion
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 inch of ginger
- 1 to 2 scotch bonnet peppers (ata rodo in Yoruba)
- 1 tbsp tomato puree
- 4 large fresh tomatoes/1 canned tomato
- 1 seasoning cube
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- 2 teaspoons curry powder
- 2 cups easy cook rice (dry parboiled rice, not pre-boiled)
- 2 cups hot or boiling water
Instructions
- 1
Heat the oil in a heavy based saucepan.
- 2
2. Fry the onions until golden brown. Add the garlic and ginger a few seconds before adding your tomato puree. My mom always told me that I need to make sure the tomato puree fries for a good amount of time to reduce the acidic taste.
- 3
3. Add the curry, thyme and seasoning cube followed by the tomatoes and scotch bonnet peppers. (If your kitchen is equipped with a blender, you would have simply added the pepper and ginger to the tomatoes and blitzed them all together).
- 4
4. Now allow the stew base to simmer and reduce. Make sure you have a pot cover handy, as it often becomes very hot and messy whilst simmering the stew base. Do this for about 15 to 20 minutes, stir continuously to make sure it is not burning.
- 5
5. Wash the rice in the meantime then soak it in some boiled water until the tomato stew base is ready.
- 6
6. Strain the soaked rice and add it to the pot. Season to taste carefully.
- 7
7. Top up the pot with enough water for those with an experienced eye for rice. This would normally be about 500mls (2 cups), you may need to top up if the rice is still hard. Bring to the boil.
- 8
8. Once simmering nicely and the moisture has nearly all gone, cover with parchment paper right above the rice (to lock in moisture and add natural cooking pressure). Close with an air tight lid. Reduce the heat and simmer slowly.
- 9
9. Taste the rice and once the grains are cooked, raise the heat back to high for just 2 minutes, and allow the bottom of the pot to toast. Take off the heat and your rice is ready to eat!