Yields 3
It is World Cup season and a winning Super Eagles team may rank higher to Nigerians than their beloved Jollof! I promised to cook the Jollof in the other method without precooking the rice first, I personally think the result is the same but this method is faster as you do not need to precook the rice. But more technical since you will be cooking the rice in tomato sauce fully which could make it burn faster. Good Jollof always wins so if you end up with a favourful dish with rich colour and texture, you are on my team!
20 minPrep Time
25 minCook Time
45 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
- 3 cups chicken stock or meat broth (if you boil meat, add some water to the broth if it’s not up to 3 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, drain and set aside.
- 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 rice and simmer for about 10-15 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 little water or stock, cover the pot tightly and let the steam cook the rice through.
- It is easier to burn the dish while cooking in this method because you are cooking the rice for longer in tomato sauce, a little burn is desirable actually, pay close attention.
- 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.
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