Hi foodies, this weekend, I craved something simple but tasty, so I decided to make my favourite meal — Jollof rice. I didn't need anything fancy, I just wanted the kind that would make a house smell amazing and keep everyone itching to taste it. I really want to share my recipe and it's my first time here in this community.
Jollof rice is a popular West African food. It's prepared in almost every home in my country Nigeria and it's my favorite food because I feel it's the easiest to cook and can be cooked in various ways without restrictions. So you can experiment with this recipe and make it in your own style to your own taste. I'm so happy to share my recipe with you. So, join me in my kitchen as we cook together.
My ingredients included: (for 5 servings though) 1. 5 cups of long-grain parboiled rice (you can use basmati for a softer texture) 2. 1 cup of tomato paste 3. Some pieces of red scotch bonnet peppers 4. 2 small onions 5. Some pieces of beef 6. Seasoning cubes 7. 1 small sachet of curry powder 8. 1 small sachet of jollof rice spice 9. 1 small sachet of beef spice 10. 1 small cup of vegetable oil 11. A handful of dried crayfish 12. Salt to taste
Steps: 1. Wash the beef and put it in a pot. Add 2 seasoning cubes, some chopped onions, and a pinch of salt to taste. Add two cooking spoons of water and bring to a boil till the meat gets soft.
- I pounded some scotch bonnet peppers in a mortar. I ground it not too smoothly because I wanted to see its pieces in the food.
- I also ground my dried crayfish and brought it to a smooth paste.
- I chopped my onion.
- After prepping my ingredients, I put an empty pot on the fire to heat up.
- After heating the pot, I added my vegetable oil and allowed it to heat up too.
- I added my chopped onion and allowed it to fry for 30 seconds.
- I added my tomato paste and allowed it to fry for a minute and then I added my ground pepper. After 30 seconds of frying, I added three cups of water.
- I added in my, cooked beef with the stock, seasoning cubes, sachets of cooking spice, ground crayfish, and salt to taste. I covered the pot and allowed it to boil for a while.
- While the sauce was boiling, I washed my rice and after 2 minutes of allowing it to boil, I added the washed rice.
- I stirred it to mix the sauce with the rice completely.
- And so I added an extra two cups of water, covered the pot, and allowed it to cook.
- After a while, I checked to see if it was done, but seeing it was yet to cook completely, I added it extra two cups of water and after the rice was dried of its juice, I stirred thoroughly and removed from heat.
Extra tip: 1. I usually use a long spoon to dip into the cooked rice and after seeing no liquid drop from the edge of the spoon, I know the juice is completely dried from the rice and I can remove it from the heat. 2. The secret to achieving a smoky jollof rice is to allow the bottom of the pot just burn slightly( trust me, it's worth it).
And that’s how I made my simple, tasty Jollof rice!