I love me some jollof rice

Lately, I’ve had a lot of meals with rice. Actually, I’ve eaten too much rice in the last few weeks – from a Lebanese restaurant to Thai or just at home. Even so, I still want me some homemade jollof rice.

If you’ve never had jollof rice, it’s about time you try it! If you like rice, you can’t go wrong with this staple West African dish.

Jollof rice, a top contender in Nigeria’s food hall of fame. When made to perfection, just the way I like it, I can eat jollof rice everyday of the month!

Yes, I eat a lot. And good enough, I also like to cook. But I must warn that I’m not a big fan of following recipes, especially when it comes to measurements – which is why I don’t bake. I can’t follow recipes for the life of me. When I cook for just myself, I improvise a lot and substitute ingredients to get different taste, texture etc. All that said, I’m going to share my homemade jollof rice recipe and do my best to write out the directions (lol).

Ingredients

• Rice
• Goat meat
• Tomato paste
  

  jollof rice with gizzards

• Onions
• Chilli powder
• Fresh garlic (grind)
• Thyme (dry)
• Knorr cubes

Directions

Goat meat

1. Place goat in a pot
2. Add water
3. Add seasoning
4. Boil until cooked to your liking
5. Drain and place the broth aside
   

   jollof rice with sides

6. Fry goat meat

Rice

1. Cook rice in a pot or rice cooker using broth from goat meat
2. Add water as needed
3. Cook rice until done to your liking and the water is dry

Stew

1. Dice onions
2. Grind or grate the garlic
3. Heat some oil in a frying pan or pot
4. Add diced onions
5. Stir
6. Add tomato paste, garlic and chili powder
7. Continue to stir
8. Add Knorr cubes and Thyme
9. Reduce heat and cook for some minutes

Bringing it all together…

jollof rice with side salad

1. If the frying pan or pot you used for the stew is big enough, begin to add rice into the pan or pot
2. Stir as you add rice into the stew
3. Cover and cook for a few minutes with the heat still reduced
4. Voila! You’re done!
5. Leave pan or pot open to cool
6. Place jollof rice on a plate with fried goat meat on the side
7. Stuff your face all you want because you’ve earned it….learning how to cook jollof rice!!!

*Side note, jollof rice is also served with dodo (fried plantain) on the side.

I don’t like to follow recipes/instructions when I cook because I believe there’s more than one way to achieve the same result. If you would like more instructions on how to cook jollof rice, simply research online or visit the folks at All Nigerian Recipes, where you can also watch video demos.

~ by omonaij on June 17, 2012.