Nigerian Jollof Rice

Jollof rice, which is widely consumed in West Africa (and in the English-speaking part of Cameroon), is a dish that has several varieties, including Ghanaian jollof rice, Senegalese jollof ( Thieboudieune ), Cameroonian jollof, Nigerian jollof rice… On social networks, Internet users from Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon have fun teasing each other about which of the three countries makes this meal best, everyone finds that the jollof from their country is the best. If we take the case of Ghanaian and Nigerian jollof, there is not a very big difference, these dishes differ in terms of the quality of rice and the color at the end of cooking, that of Nigeria is much darker than the others. In this article, I show you the secrets that others will not tell you to make Nigerian jollof rice a success.

INGREDIENTS

• 500g long grain rice
• 5 tomato fruits
• 5 peppers
• A tablespoon of ginger or Ginger
• A teaspoon of Paprika
• Chicken (thighs preferred)
• 3 to 4 tablespoons of tomato paste
• 3 onions
• 750 cl of cooking oil
• 2 tablespoons of curry
• 3 tablespoons of pepper
• 3 heads of garlic
• 4 bay leaves
• 2 red peppers
• Of the aroma
• Salt
• thyme
• 50g butter
  

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  Total time

Preparation: 40 min Resting: – Cooking: 3h

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PREPARATION

1

First of all, you have to start by taking care of the chicken. You will therefore have to marinate it properly. Put the chicken in a saucepan and add a spoonful of curry, garlic and onion powder, a chili pepper, salt, flavoring, mix and leave in the refrigerator for 15 minutes so that it is well marinated.

2

You should know that jollof rice is made with a sauce, and the preparation of this sauce is extremely important and is at the same time quite delicate. I'll show you a tip to make your sauce exceptional. The trick is simply to grill your ingredients (tomatoes, onions, peppers, garlic heads, bell pepper) in the oven. But if you don't have an oven, don't panic! I'll show you how to grill your ingredients in a pan at the end of the recipe Jollof rice is also its color, and what gives this coloring to your dish is the fact that the sauce is very red. So make sure that your tomatoes, peppers and bell peppers are very red. Use two varieties of peppers (the chili Pepper, and the Sombor Pepper) for a better result.

3

Slice the ingredients from step 2 into large pieces, trim the ends of the garlic heads so that air can pass into the cloves and pour a few drops of olive oil or any other cooking oil then put in the oven preheated to 180 degrees for 30 min.

4

Once the ingredients are toasted, now remove the skin from your garlic cloves and pour everything into a blender, then blend until you get a smooth sauce.

COOKING

1

After 20 minutes, take your chicken out of the refrigerator, add water and boil for 15 to 20 minutes. Your chicken must have enough sauce because it will be useful for the rest of the cooking

2

Heat oil in a frying pan to 180 degrees, add a quarter of onion, a few garlic seeds, add the chicken pieces and fry for 10 to 15 minutes. Your chicken should be quite golden, this is indeed the particularity of Nigerian jollof rice chicken. Then put your chicken pieces in a drainer so that the remaining oil runs off the chicken.

3

Now let's cook the sauce. To do this, heat 500ml of cooking oil in a saucepan (pressure cooker), add chopped onions, cook for 1 min

4

Then add the tomato puree and cook for 15 minutes then add the blended tomato sauce and stir

5

Add the paprika, curry, ginger powder, thyme, white pepper, bay leaves, flavoring and salt to taste. Stir, and cook for half an hour. Let the oil rise to the top, stirring after every 5 minutes. Do not close the sauce or it will burn.

6

Finally, it's time to add the rice. At this stage, you have two alternatives:

• First alternative: Add the previously boiled rice, which will save you time and reduce the risk of your rice burning.

• Second alternative: Wash your rice properly and add it directly. In this case you will lose a small part of your rice because it will burn during cooking, which is not bad in itself because in the end the rice will have a particular flavor

It's up to you to make your choice, one or the other alternative, your delicious dish recipe

7

After adding the rice, stir properly, add the sauce from your chicken reserved in step 1, stir, then add the butter

8

Cover the rice with the allure paper to allow the heat not to escape. Then simmer for 10 min if the rice is precooked or for 20 to 25 min if the rice is raw Your Nigerian jollof rice is ready, serve and add the piece of chicken

Note:

The mistake to avoid with Nigerian jollof rice is choosing rice that cooks quickly and sticks together. Opt for Thai long grain rice to make your recipe perfect.

Trick:

You don't have an oven to grill your ingredients? Then you can do it using a frying pan As with the oven, you must also cut the heads of garlic so that the air can pass into the cloves . Just spread a little oil on the frying pan. Using the heads of garlic, spread the oil more on the frying pan with the cut side of the heads of garlic. This will allow the oil to be well arranged and in this case you will no longer need to put oil on the garlic. Then brown your ingredients cut into large pieces in the frying pan over low heat, turning from time to time. This could take you quite a while, 35 min there but rest assured, it will be well worth it!