Naija Kitchen Episode 3: How To Cook Nigerian Party Jollof Rice

May 15, 2014 – Naija Kitchen Episode 3: How To Cook Nigerian Party Jollof Rice

Hello friends and welcome to the third episode of Naija Kitchen.

Have you ever been to a Nigerian party and love the way the Jollof rice taste or smell?

Do you ever wish to learn how to cook  it? If your answer to the above question is yes, you’re on the right page.

Today we’ll learn how to cook delicious and rich Nigerian Jollof rice.

There are two types of Jollof rice, party and normal one. The earlier is unique because of its smokey aroma and taste.

No ceremony or occasion in Nigeria is complete without party jollof rice.

Now let’s go into the kitchen.

Here are the ingredients you will need:

• Ten fresh whole Tomatoes
• Five Big Red Ball Pepper aka Tatashe
• Five red scotch bonnet aka Atarodo
•One cooking spoon Tinned tomato puree
•One liter of Boiled meat water or boiled chicken water
• Two red onion
• 1/2 Ginger
• 5Cloves Garlics, minced
• 4 Bay Leaves ‘whole’
• 1 tablespoon of Dry Thyme
• 1 table spoon of Curry powder
• 4 Seasoning cubes (Maggi)
• 5 cups of Rice
• Salt to taste
• Cooking oil (Vegetable or corn oil)

INSTRUCTIONS

STEP 1
Chicken/Beef/Turkey Stock preparation
Season your preferred meat type with Maggi cubes,salt,curry,thyme, ground ginger, chopped onion and garlic.
Place in a pot and boil till tender.
Remove the meat from the stock and fry the meat.
Keep the meat water (stock) aside and keep the oil you used in frying it separately.

STEP 2

RICE PREPARATION

Wash the rice and place it in a pot.
Add enough water to cover the rice and parboil it for 10 minutes.
Wash the parboiled rice with cold water,drain and set it aside.

STEP 3

PREPARATION OF THE TOMATO/PEPPER PUREE
Wash the tomatoes, scotch bonnet (atarodo) and red ball pepper(tatashe) and onion well.

Blend everything to a smooth puree.
Boil the mixture until there is no water left.

STEP 4

JOLLOF RICE PREPARATION

Add tinned tomato into the boiled tomato/pepper puree you made in step 3 above
Pour the oil you used in frying the meat into the puree
Fry it and ensure you stirring it constantly for about 5 minutes to avoid it getting burnt

Pour the boiled meat water (stock) into the fried puree and mix.
Add dry thyme, curry, powder, Maggi cubes and salt to taste

Gently pour the rice into the puree and cover the pot.
Make sure the stock covers the rice and if it doesn’t, add more water to ensure it does.

Add the Bay Leaves to the pot and cover.

THE FINAL STAGE

Leave the jollof to cook and soften and once you notice the liquid in the pot has almost dried up leaving concentrated tomato puree at the top, turn with a wooden spoon or spatula. At this time, Check if the rice is soft enough and also check for salt and if the seasoning from the stock is enough, if not add the necessary ingredients. If its not soft enough, add some more water and leave to dry up once more till its completely soft. Now you can turn with any type of spoon……..Let the Burning Begin!!!! P.S: 10-12mins is enough to let the bottom part get charred a bit (please don’t burn the whole pot of rice….lol)

Here is the catch, to get the smoky smell of Nigerian party jollof rice, you need to let the rice burn underneath till you begin to smell it.

Once it completely dries up at the top, turn off the burner and open the pot slightly for the vapor to evaporate.

Tada!!! Your jollof rice is fully cooked and ready to serve….

Enjoy!!!!

See you on the next episode of Naija Kitchen.