Smoky Nigerian Jollof Rice

Updated at: Thu, 17 Aug 2023 10:01:13 GMT

Step 1

Wash the hens and season with salt, chicken bouillon, curry powder, thyme leaves and crushed red pepper to taste. (You can use any other meat you like, but make sure it’s something that can withstand boiling without getting too soft, as we need to boil the meat to make a stock).

Step 2

Transfer to a pot, add water and half an onion and cook until tender.

Step 3

While the chicken is cooking, rinse and cut 1 onion, 3 bell peppers, 3 habanero peppers, all the tomatoes, garlic and ginger. Transfer to a pot and cook on medium high heat till tender.

Step 4

Once the hens are cooked, drain and set the stock aside, then fry, bake or airfry the hens till they’re golden brown.

Step 5

Once the peppers are tender transfer to a blender and blend till smooth.

Step 6

In a clean nonstick pot, add a cup of vegetable oil and fry half an onion till its fragrant, then add the tomato paste and fry while stirring continuously for about 10 minutes on medium heat.

Step 7

Add the blended pepper mix and fry till all the water has evaporated and you can see a separation of the oil and sauce. You can cover the pot to avoid splattering but stir occasionally to avoid burning.

Step 8

Drain the oil and transfer the fried sauce to a pot that is not non stick(this is important for that smokey flavor as we want the rice to burn). Add the washed rice, reserved stock, 3 bay leaves. Add water if your chicken stock doesn’t cover the rice. You want enough liquid to just cover the rice. Adjust seasoning and cook on medium high heat.

Step 9

Once it starts to boil, stir and adjust seasoning if necessary, put the heat on low, cover with aluminum foil, then place the pot lid ontop to create a tight seal. Cook for 25 minutes.

Step 10

In a separate pan, add the drained oil from the jollof sauce, then roughly blend 1 onion, 5 bell peppers and 3 habanero peppers then add to the oil. Cook till the water content has evaporated.

Step 11

Season your sauce to taste and add the fried/baked/airfried hens to the sauce in the previous step and mix properly. Cover and cook on low heat to let the flavors of the sauce seep into the chicken.

Step 12

Once the rice has cooked for 25 minutes, add the margarine/butter and a little bit of diced onions, cover and let it cook for another 5 minutes to melt the margarine/butter.

Step 13

Mix the jollof rice and it’s ready at this stage, but to get the smoky flavor, cover the pot again and increase the heat to high and let it go about 10 minutes (don’t overdo it so as not to trigger your smoke alarms).

Step 14

Turn of the heat, stir and cover the pot again for about 10 minutes to let the rice absorb all smoky flavor.

Step 15

Turn off the heat from your stewed hens and stir.

Step 16

Serve the rice and top it with the stewed hens. You can also add a side salad and some fried plantains.

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