Day 3: Nigeria

Jollof Rice & Chicken

For my final meal of the week and my last time cooking an African meal, I chose to make jollof and chicken. Jollof is usually eaten at celebratory events and is popular in many West African countries. I decided to cook the Nigerian version of this dish, but Ghana, Cameroon, Senegal, and other West African nations all have distinctive jollofs.

Now, to the cooking:

Ingredients:

• 2lb basmati rice
• 4 tomatoes
• 2 red bell peppers
• 2 Scotch bonnet or habanero peppers
  • Scotch bonnet peppers are preferred because while they are just as spicy as habanero peppers, they have a unique sweet and fruity taste as well. Unfortunately, I had to use habanero because my local grocery store didn’t carry scotch bonnet.
• 2 red Onions
• About 150g tomato puree
• 1 tablespoon thyme
• 3 bayleaves
• 1/2 cup oil
• Salt and chicken bouillon to taste

Step 1: Add the 4 tomatoes, 2 red bell peppers, 2 scotch bonnet/habanero peppers, and 1 of the onions to a food processor. You may need to add a little water to help with the blending. Blend the mixture until smooth.

Step 2: Dice one red onion into small pieces and add to a large pot with oil. Fry the onions on medium heat for about 5 minutes.

Step 3: Add in the tomato puree, and fry the onions and tomato puree on medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

Step 4: Next, add in the pepper mixture blended earlier and stir in well to incorporate the fried puree properly.

Step 5: Now, add 3 bay leaves, 1 tablespoon of dried thyme, and a mixture of salt and chicken bouillon. Stir this in well and cover and leave to boil on medium heat for 15 minutes.

Step 6: While the sauce is cooking, wash the rice repeatedly to remove the starch. When you first pour in the water, it will be murky. You want to continue washing until the water above the rice becomes clear. This step is important as it prevents mushy and unpleasantly sticky jollof rice.

Step 7: After the sauce has cooked for 15 minutes, add in the washed rice and stir well to ensure rice is properly mixed in. After this, add in just enough water to cover the rice. Then, cover and leave the jollof rice to cook on low heat.

Step 8: Stir the rice from the bottom up after 20 minutes of cooking, 40 minutes of cooking, and 70 minutes of cooking. After 70 minutes, the rice is finished. Below, you can see what the rice should look like at various stages.

• 

• 

• 

---

Normally, when people make jollof and chicken, the chicken is boneless and mixed in with the rice; however, I wanted to try something different. As you can see in the first picture, I cooked whole, bone-in chicken thighs.

Now, to the cooking:

Ingredients:

• 5 chicken thighs
• 2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon  pepper
• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon chicken bouillon powder

Step 1: Mix spices together and rub generously on both sides of chicken.

Step 2: Brown the chicken in a skillet at medium-high (2-3 minutes on each side).

Step 3: Bake chicken in the oven for about 40 minutes at 350 degrees.