Yields 3
In Nigeria, we love our Jollof. A party is not complete without party jollof which is traditionally cooked with firewood which lends a smoky flavour to the dish. There is a lot of controversy around what the perfect jollof should be. Or the method. There are several methods, this is one way and I will post another jollof recipe soon. As long as you end up with a flavourful, orange-reddish dish that is not soggy or al dente, you are Jollof bae! Enjoy!
15 minPrep Time
20 minCook Time
35 minTotal Time
Save RecipeIngredients
- 1½ Cups long grain parboiled rice grains.
- 1 Onion (medium dice)
- 3 garlic cloves
- 15g fresh ginger
- 3 fresh tomatoes (about 300g, you can also use canned chopped tomatoes or passata, i prefer fresh)
- 1 Red bell pepper/tatashe.
- 1 habanero (hot pepper)
- ½ Dried thyme
- ½ Mild curry powder
- 1 teaspoon Fresh Rosemary
- 1 teaspoon salt (Depends on how salty your chicken stock/broth is, please add your stock and taste before adding salt)
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 bay leaves
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 2 cups chicken stock or meat broth (if you boil meat, add some water to the broth if its not up to 2 cups)
- 1 Tablespoon tomato paste
- 750g beef cubes
- Small piece of ginger
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 habanero
- ½ teaspoon curry powder
- ½ teaspoon thyme (dried)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ ground black pepper
- Chili powder (optional and as needed)
- 2 Tablespoons water (optional)
Instructions
- Add all the ingredients for the beef in a pan, bring to a boil. Reduce to medium heat and cook till meat is soft.
- Wash rice and cover with water in a pot, bring to a boil and cook for about 3 minutes. Rice will not be cooked all the way through and will finish cooking in the stew. Strain and leave to cool down.
- For the stew, blend tomatoes, habanero peppers, bell pepper, ginger and garlic. (See note for your options here.)
- Add oil to a clean pot (if you want to fry your beef first, you will need more. Otherwise this is enough for the stew), saute the onions on high heat, reduce heat and add bay leaves, tomato mixture and tomato paste. Cook on low heat for about 10 minutes.
- Add chicken stock/meat broth and season with salt, pepper, curry powder, thyme and rosemary.
- Add precooked rice and simmer for about 8-10 minutes.
- There are different ways to troubleshoot your jollof till you become a pro. If the rice is fully cooked and the sauce is still very wet, increase the heat to evaporate water faster. If rice is still hard and the stock is drying out, reduce the heat, make holes in the rice all the way to the bottom of the pot and add a litle water or stock, cover the pot tightly and let the steam cook the rice through.
- Some people enjoy the burnt spot at the bottom of the pot, you should consider this for the experience. If you burn it a lot, don't mention my name o!
- Enjoy with fried plantain/moi moi/cole slaw/green salad!
Notes
How you treat your tomatoes, depends on the quality of tomatoes you are faced with. If they are very watery, you need to blend them with peppers, ginger and garlic and cook on low heat till all the water is evaporated and you can get the sweetness out of the tomatoes. If you have very firm and sweet tomatoes, you can blend them and fry it straight away in the stew. Read my post titled Nigerian Jollof - an introduction.
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