Jollof Rice and Chicken

Written by on in Nigerian Cuisine, Recipes

IMG_7103And the winner is of the cookbook giveaway is …….

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….#10. Blond duck. Congratulations, please send me an email at kitchenbutterfly.giveaway@gmail.com and I’ll send the book on ASA….

I’d also like to say a big thank you to everyone who participated in the giveaway. I will do a round-up of the fantastic suggestions I got on what to do with meatloaf, some of which I’ve tried already!9

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Now on to my offering. This year, I’ve promised myself that I will share more Nigerian recipes with you. I’m not bold enough to  say ‘whether you like it or not though!’

Actually, it was Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen who finally tipped me over the edge with a comment on my gnocchi post. It read ‘……I think I shall be coming back to you for some “Nigerian” dishes I want to try my hand at. Btw, doesn’t Jollof rice usually have crayfish in it?’

And the answer is yes….sometimes, Jollof rice has crayfish  (dried shrimps) in it, depending on who makes it. I skip it in mine…not liking fishy rice!

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But she wasn’t the only one. Mowie of Mowielicious, who lived in Nigeria while growing up also asked about Jollof rice when he read my Sinterklaas post! He said ‘You had me at Jollof rice Oz! =) Haven’t had that since Nigeria! Could you possibly share your basic recipe with me please?’ I shared with him a coconut jollof version I had on food52.

And so, as a tribute to both of them, and you as well, this is Jollof rice, in all of its tomatoey goodness and glory!

IMG_7072If you haven’t gathered some facts about Nigerian food and cooking, here are 5:

  1. Uses fresh ingredients: Few Nigerians use tomatoes out of a tin, most people buy fresh from the markets, as they do other ingredients.
  2. Can be ‘spicy’ without chili peppers: Nigerian seasonings don’t always involve chili peppers. Curry, dried thyme, ginger and garlic are used to flavour meats, rice and stews. Of course, chili peppers are a key ingredient but not everyone uses them. You will also find fresh curry leaves and other herbs available to cook.
  3. Carbs accompany most meals: Rice and other flours form the chunk of every meal. Yams, plantains, sweet potatoes and ‘Irish’ potatoes are important!
  4. Coleslaw is our favourite salad: And is usually what most people refer to when they think of salad. Sometimes, lettuce leaves and tomato slices are added to the mix but carrots are cabbage are a good pair…anyday
  5. Love meat and fish. I remember once, I served a friend of my husband tiny chunks of meat (I was practising a style of cooking) in a soup. Hmmm, the look on his face when he saw the size of the beef was far from complimentary…..as were the words that followed: ‘Is there no meat in the soup?’ I didn’t consider it that rude because I understood where he was coming from!

Jollof rice, like Fried rice (Nigerian-style) is one of those dishes in the hall of fame. No wedding, funeral, birthday party is complete without it….and certainly not Christmas. It is almost always served with chunks of fried beef and chicken, Dodo and maybe coleslaw.

IMG_7109 At home in Nigeria, it is always made with  parboiled long-grain rice like Uncle Ben’s.

According to Wikipedia, Parboiled rice is rice that has been boiled in the husk. Parboiling makes rice easier to process by hand, improves its nutritional profile, and changes its texture.

Polishing rice by hand, that is, removing the bran layer, is easier if the rice has been parboiled. It is, however, somewhat more difficult to process mechanically. The bran of parboiled rice is somewhat oily, and tends to clog machinery. Most parboiled rice is milled in the same way as white rice.

Parboiling rice drives nutrients, especially thiamine, from the bran into the grain, so that parboiled white rice is 80% nutritionally similar to brown rice. Because of this, parboiling was adopted by North American rice growers in the early 20th century. The starches in parboiled rice become gelatinized, making it harder and glassier than other rice. Parboiled rice takes more time to cook, and the cooked rice is firmer and less sticky. In North America, parboiled rice is generally partially or fully precooked by the processor.

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Now just like the Japanese do with sushi rice, the rice is gently washed till the water runs crystal. Then it is boiled for about 10 minutes, to partially cook the rice, again. Then the cooking begins. One might begin with some oil and butter, heated up. Sliced onions may be added and slowly fried. Often, a tomato mixture, made up of blended onions, tomatoes and chili will be added. This will be seasoned with curry and thyme, salt and maybe maggi cubes. Whatever is done, the key to tasty Jollof is in the seasoning.

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Being in the Netherlands, for some reason, I started making my Jollof with Basmati rice and haven’t stopped since. While I don’t parboil it, I pre-soak it for at least 20 minutes before I cook with it. It does taste quite different and I guess it is a bit more delicate than using parboiled! Though a lot of Nigerians make it on the stove-pot, when cooked for large occassions, it is made on a wood fire and the taste is amazing! Smoky and spicy…all the same.

My tips

Season well up front and give good stir at the beginning

Cook the rice on low heat, dont over stir and don’t add too much liquid at a time.

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Ingredients

2 tablespoons of coconut/vegetable oil/butter
6 medium-sized fresh tomatoes/ a 400g tin of tomatoes
3 medium sized onions (1sliced thinly, 2 blended)
½ or less of fresh chili (yellow is my favourite!), to taste
1 tablespoon tomato puree
2 tablespoons curry powder
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 stock cube
500g long grain rice or basmati rice (about 6 teacups, rinsed and drained. I don’t use easy cook rice)
800ml water or stock (vegetable, chicken or meat) – see stock recipe below!
2 tablespoons butter
Optional – mixed herbs, shrimps (fresh or dried), meat chunks etc….

IMG_7109How to

In a blender, blend tomatoes, 2 onions and chili pepper, till smooth. This will take about 2 minutes of pulsing in a blender.
In a large pan, heat oil and add the sliced onion; stir-fry for 1-2 minutes; add blended tomato mixture, tomato puree, curry, thyme and season with salt. Stir on medium heat for 10-12 minutes so the mix cooks and the raw taste of the tomatoes is gone.
If using, add water/stock. Stir well, season to taste and add rice. Stir again. Cover pan and bring to the boil.

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When it comes up to the boil, add butter, stir again and turn down the heat – letting the rice steam for another 15-20 minutes, or till cooked (depending on how you like your rice). If rice is getting too dry, add some more stock or water, stir gently and leave to cook.
When it’s cooked, take off heat and remove the cover of the pot. Put a tea cloth over the top and leave till ready to serve.

Note that when cooking, the rice may stick to the bottom of the pan…..and even burn. Now, some in Nigeria consider this the best part of the meal…..scooping up every burnt grain onto their plates. I must admit that sometimes, it lends a smoky, bbq-like flavour to the rice, as though it were cooked outside!

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Variations

  1. One pot for kids

    Omit the chili and in addition to the ingredients above, add 2 large carrots (roughly grated) and 1-2 cups of lean minced meat.

    If the mincemeat is really lean, add at the start of stage 3 to chopped onions and continue with the rest of the steps. If it is not lean, precook before hand and add to stage three. You could also use left-over meatloaf!

  2. Coconut version

    Add 1 tin of coconut milk (about 400ml) and half of the stock after cooking the tomato mixture.

IMG_7075It is possible to make kids/adults version with or all of the ingredients – carrots, coconut milk, minced meat… it depends on what you like. There are NO rules!

Garnish with slices of green peppers and cilantro (coriander) leaves. Serve with fried plantain (dodo) or sliced bananas and meats (or not) of your choice. I love it with boiled or fried eggs.
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Chicken, Nigeria style

Ingredients

2 large onions (red or white), chopped

2-3 cloves Garlic , without the skin

Fresh yellow (or red) chili (1/2 a chili will be a little hot, so don’t use more than that if you’re not a chili fan, or omit it completely)

Fresh/Dried Ginger (1 tsp, or to taste)

Salt, to taste

2-3 teaspoons dried Thyme

2-3 tablespoons dried Curry powder

Chicken seasoning – Aromat, or any other seasoning you like (Paprika, Turmeric etc)

Uncooked Chicken drumsticks/legs (1kg) (Chicken on the bone is far tastier!)

How to

Start with the marinade

Blend Onions, garlic (and fresh ginger, chilies, if using) without water in a blender.

Do it in pulses and if it is difficult, open the blender and mix the contents with a spoon. When ready put onion mixture into a large bowl.

Garlic and onions Ground ginger

Add spices to onion mixture and mix well.

add some paprika

Add chicken to spice mixture, making sure chicken pieces are well coated. Then cover the bowl with the cover or Clingfilm and leave in the fridge to marinade for 24 hours.

mixed together marinade on chicken

Time to cook

When ready to cook, put in a pan and do not add any water

Let chicken steam for 15-20 minutes (The point is not to cook it through). Stir often when steaming to ensure it doesn’t burn.

When steaming is done, put on a baking rack or in a pan and bake/grill to desired brownness, turning a couple of times to ensure even cooking!

chicken on rack

How to make the stock

To make stock: Add about1/2 – 1 litre of boiling water to the mixture, which is left after the chicken is cooked to make the stock. Strain in a sieve and throw residue in sieve away and keeping the liquid for the Jollof rice!

Have a blessed start to a short week…..and long weekend for Easter. Lots of love and a taster of what’s coming soon? Mini chocolate caramel banoffee pies!

[wpurp-searchable-recipe]Jollof Rice and Chicken – – – [/wpurp-searchable-recipe]

62 Comments

  1. Oz, I did it! And was told it was good. I did like it myself also. Will practice more:-) and then next challenge – pepper soup!
    Thank you, Oz! Very inspirational and clear even for a dummy from Far Far East like me;-)

    Reply

  3. Looking back through the Nigerian recipes here. I miss Jollof rice so much! (And egusi soup with fufu, yam porridge, scent leaf; oh, so many wonderful flavors!) I once won a contest in Nigeria for knowing the most accurate method for making Jollof rice. All the Nigerians were blown away when they realized an oyibo had won. It was pretty fun. 🙂 Thanks for posting bits of Nigeria. 🙂

    Reply

    • Oh wow Warren, I’ll beed that recipe for your Jollof! ASAP!! I won’t put it past oyibos sha :-). Thanks for sharing your wonderful memories with me. I hope Asia is treating you well.

      Reply

  9. […] on its own, with porridge oats, Jollof rice…and even gari. Like I […]

    Reply

  12. Hello,
    I’m going to make this tomorrow night and hope you can answer my question before then!

    I’m confused about making the chicken. You say to put it in a pot and ‘steam’ it, but not to add water. I’m not sure what you mean. How does one steam without water?

    Also, do you know about what heat to use and for how long when cooking the chicken?

    Your help is appreciated! 🙂

    Reply

  16. Marvelous! I can’t say that I’ve had Nigerian cuisine before, so this would make a lovely introduction, especially since rice is my absolute favorite staple!

    Reply

  19. That rice is beautiful. The close up did not look like rice to me, at all, until I read the recipe. I wonder if we really look at our food when we eat it.

    Reply

  21. You’re so right, Oz. I tasted the Jollof rice made by a Ghanian lady and she added some small cubed carrots, green beans, and corn kernel. For garnish, she used some sauteed shrimp and sliced boiled eggs.

    It’s nice to learn different version of the dish with the same name.

    Reply

  26. I’m so excited you’re going to do more Nigerian recipes, Ozoz!! YAY! 🙂 I’ve only done a little African cooking but really love it, so I’m delighted that I’ll get to learn more with you. 🙂

    Reply

  31. Woohoooooo! Jollof rice with chicken! I’m ectstatic that you made this, been waiting for the recipe – haven’t eaten it since I was in Nigeria last – a very long time ago – such lovely memories! Thanks so much hon, I’m making this tomorrow for dinner. You rock! =) x

    Reply

  35. Thanks a bunch for an “authentic” recipe, Oz. You bring back a lot of memories with this rice. Next time I go to the market, I’m getting some “plahntehns” and we shall have rice and dodo. 🙂
    I remember those 1kg paper cartons of Uncle Bens!LOL
    And the smoky flavour in the rice.

    We get parboiled rice here, so I’ll use that. And you’ll be getting mor mail from me soon. 🙂

    Reply

    • Aparna, have fun. You gave me the chance to make something I’ve been meaning to share but hadn’t done! Enjoy. The beauty of Jollof is the individuality! Looking forward to being swamped with mail!

      Reply

  36. Wow, thanks so much for sharing your Nigerian recipes, love exploring cultures through its food and I had tried making Jollof rice at one time, a long time ago, and always meant to do it again – just to see if it is as delicious as I remember, cannot wait to try your version.

    Reply

  37. I really like the idea of adding coconut to the rice. So many great spices all dancing around together in this Nigerian dish–fun!
    p.s. where did you find that cool appetizer spork?

    Reply

  39. I must admit to not knowing anything about Nigerian food but if this is a good example of traditional food, I’m all for it. Great layers of flavor in both the rice and the chicken.

    Reply

  42. Mmm, I like the rules for Nigerian dishes 🙂 You Jollof rice and chicken looks delicious, and I like how you have variations – flexible recipes are always fun. I can’t wait to see some more of your Nigerian recipes. I promise, I’ll like them whether you want me to or not! 😉

    Reply

    • Su Lin, I use Maggi or Knorr chicken cubes most times(imported from Nigeria :-)), though other stock cubes would be as good I reckon!

      Reply

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