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Varieties they say is the spice of life. Moving to Bahrain put me in that position where I suddenly can’t lay my hands on different options when it comes to my choice of meal. I am big on trying new things and getting fresh kind of experience, but when it comes to food, I tend to be very careful. I can easily eat whatever kind of meals they have here, but the only reason I don’t find it comfortable enough yet to eat them is because they were not prepared by me. Yes! I don’t like to eat out, on rare occasions I do, but I enjoy eating home made meal and often times, meals that are prepared by me. Because I lack options and it can be quite challenging for me to get some of my amazing Africa ingredients for my foods, I got really creative with my meal each time I make something to eat. Well, today the appetite was for JOLLOF RICE, one amazing African form of rice that Nigerians and Ghanaians are still battling who makes it better 😤. Well, I am not here to join on that debate on which country makes it better, I am here to share one of the ways I make my own Jollof Rice (I have different recipes for my jollof rice). So, before you start reading I will advice you sit very comfortable with those legs crossed and ready to digest every information I am about to share with you.
In today’s post, I will be sharing one of the many ways I make one of the most famous meals made in Africa. Like, if you have not held of JOLLOF RICE or even eat JOLLOF RICE, then I am sorry to tell you my friend, you have been missing. This meal is so popular, it got two popular countries in West Africa battling about who makes the best version of this meal, which happen to be the Nigerian Jollof verse the Ghanaian Jollof (some crazy twitter war that till today has not been resolved)😒. Well, this post is not designed to educate you about this meal, this post is designed to share one of my personal version of this meal. You can always Google the meal if you want to know more about it.
INGREDIENTS
It will be very low of me not to share the things used in making this meal, like who does that? Imagine me just coming here and asking you to do this and do that without a clear brief of everything that make up the meal. Well, listed below are the ingredients used in making my jollof rice.
Note: you can always get creative enough to modify it the way you want when making your own meal, it doesn’t have to be like mine though.
- Tomatoes
- Bell Pepper and Cameroon Pepper (I love spicy food)
- Capsicum (Green and Yellow)
- Chicken
- Rice
- Bay leaves
- Chili Pepper (for my chicken)
- Curry
- Thyme
- Powder Garlic
- Onions
- Seasoning cube
- Salt
- Vegetable oil
These are just the basic things used in making this meal. You really don’t need to travel wild to find them, very straight forward and easy to get.
HOW I MADE MY JOLLOF RICE AND FRIED CHICKEN
Before I start sharing my procedure with you, let me share some I have notice about myself each time I am in the kitchen cooking. I don’t know if it’s just me or there is someone out here who love being alone inside the kitchen while cooking? Like I love the quietness I get around me while cooking, I am very active when everywhere is quiet and no one is coming in and going out, I honestly don’t have issues doing everything alone till I am done. You can only be in the kitchen with me if you can be quiet and know well not to touch anything until I ask you to. Is it weird?🤔
Well that aside, I started my cooking by first cleaning the kitchen. It is more of a tradition though; I like my space clean so I can have enough room to easily multi task. Immediately I was done with that, I washed my chicken, added some chili pepper, curry, thyme, powder garlic to it and some water then I placed it on the cooker to cook for some minutes. Doing this actually provided time for me to do other things like cutting of onions (which I don’t always enjoy doing), blending of my pepper and tomatoes, cutting of my green and yellow Capsicum. While I was still waiting for my chicken to get cooked a bit so I can fry, I also used that opportunity to wash my rice and place it on the cooker to parboil for some minutes.
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DO YOU KNOW?
Do you know that the Jollof rice originally originated from the Wolof Tribe that cut across Gambia and Senegal (two West African Countries)? Originally, it was more of a Fish-based kind of meal. Now, people garnish the jollof rice with chicken and any protein that works for them. Read more basic facts about the world famous jollof rice Here
Sorry, I had to give you guys a little history there while I was allowing my chicken get cooked in my mind 😂. Immediately my chicken was ready and at this point my rice was also ready, I poured a large amount of vegetable oil in the pot I was going to fry my chicken in, I allowed the oil to be very hot because I don’t want the chicken to soak oil while frying. You can check the image below to see how much justice was done while frying the chicken, I always love that golden brown look I get every time I fry chicken 🤗. Who else love to pick one of the fried chickens to exercise their mouth while cooking? I do it a lot 😂.
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The moment I finished frying my chickens, I put another pot on fire and add some vegetable oil while I wait for it to get warm enough for me to fry everything, I will be needing for my Jollof rice. I placed my onions, yellow and green capsicum, small amount of curry and thyme, seasoning cube and also some bay leaves into my warm vegetable oil and allowed them to fry for some minutes. After that, I poured in my blended tomatoes and peppers into the mixture already in my pot, I mixed them very well and then allowed it to boil for some minutes.
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Next, I poured my parboiled rice into the tomatoes and pepper sauce, added some salt and mixed very well. At this point, most persons will add some fresh water that will enable the rice get fully cooked. But for me, I like to use some of the water used in cooking my chicken (apart from liking the quietness while cooking, someone threw away my chicken water once upon a time, thinking I will not be using it, I never forget that day because I was angry, I always keep my chicken water till I know I will not use it, it is a habit). I mixed very well and waited for my rice to be ready.
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Okay, let me confirm this also, who else like the bottom pot of the jollof rice to get burnt? When you allow the rice get burnt a bit, it has this aroma it adds to the rice. Personally, I love that aroma. Immediately my rice was ready, I dished some that I want to eat, and keep the remaining one in the freezer (till when next I want to eat rice, don’t worry I will eat it, I don’t waste food)😇. I really had fun doing all of this. Like yo! I always have fun while cooking, my mother will always say, great meals are not determined by the amount of ingredients or what is placed in the meal. Great meals are determined by the amount of love put into it while making it.
Close range shot of my Jollof Rice, rate my meal
All images are my original images unless stated otherwise. Images are taken with my Iphone 13 Pro max.
Well, there you have it guys a time well spent in the kitchen, satisfying my appetite of eating Jollof rice. Hope you enjoyed reading this post because I had a nice time working on it. If you do like this post, make sure you reblog it to others that might find it interesting as well (just light someone’s day up with my jollof rice experience)😘. Remember to follow so you don’t miss out on any of my posts because there is more from where this is coming. Do well to share your thoughts in the comment section. Thank you for being an amazing reader and have a blissful day🤗.
