This west-African seasoned rice dish packs a flavourful punch with a blend of tomatoes, peppers and spices. Building on the Nigerian-style, this is the perfect dish to feed a crowd.
Prep Time15 minutesmins
Cook Time55 minutesmins
Total Time1 hourhr10 minutesmins
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: Nigerian, West African
Keyword: jollof rice, rice
Servings: 8
Author: Monique Creary
Ingredients
For the Tomato-Pepper Sauce
2largetomatoes(or 4-5 Roma tomatoes)
2mediumred bell peppers
1mediumonionpeeled
3clovesgarlicpeeled
1inchginger rootpeeled and grated
1scotch bonnet pepper
For the Jollof Rice
3cupslong-grain parboiled rice(475g)
1mediumonionsliced
4tbspcanola oil
1tbspcurry powder
1tspdried thyme
2bay leaves
1/2tspsalt
1small cantomato paste(156mL)
2chicken or vegetable bouillon cubescrumbled
4cupstomato-pepper sauce(950mL)
2cupslow-sodium chicken stock, vegetable stock or water
Instructions
For the Tomato-Pepper Sauce/Tomato Stew
In a blender, puree the tomatoes, onion, garlic, ginger and Scotch bonnet pepper until smooth. Set aside.
For the Jollof Rice
Wash the rice with cold water until the drained water runs clear. Set aside.
In medium saucepan, sauté onion in oil over medium heat for 2-3 minutes, until translucent.
Sprinkle in the curry powder, dried thyme, bay leaves, salt and continue to cook for 1 minute to infuse the flavours.
Add in the tomato paste, stirring frequently for about 3-4 minutes.
Stir in 4 cups of the homemade Tomato-Pepper Sauce and the bouillon cubes. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Cover and cook for an additional 10-15 minutes in order to thicken.
Preheat the oven to 350°F (176°C). Transfer the cooked tomato mixture into a deep baking dish or foil pan.
Stir in the rinsed rice, coating with the tomato mixture. Then stir in the chicken stock (or water).
Cover with aluminum foil or a tight-fitting lid and bake in the oven for 30 minutes, or until rice is cooked.
Remove from the oven and let sit, covered, for 10 minutes before uncovering and fluffing with a fork.
Video
Notes
Although the recipe works better with fresh tomatoes, if you don’t have any on hand feel free to used canned, diced tomatoes.
Chop your tomatoes and onions into manageable pieces before adding to the blender.
You essentially want a 2:3 sauce to rice ratio for this dish. Depending on how juicy your tomatoes are, you might end up with more of the tomato-pepper sauce after you blend it. Any extra can be placed in a container and frozen for future use.
To cut down on cleanup, you can choose to cook your stew and jollof in a large Dutch oven, or oven-safe pan.
Make sure that before you put the jollof in the oven, that it’s tightly covered with foil and/or a lid for your baking dish. This helps keep the heat in to steam the rice nicely.
The good thing about finishing off the rice in the oven is that it doesn’t require constant monitoring like you would if you cooked it on the stove-top, and the rice cooks at an even temperature.
Let the rice sit covered for 10-15 minutes after you take it out of the oven. It will help dry up some of the extra liquid, so don’t be too worried if your rice looks a bit wet when you first remove it.
Using parboiled rice is key, as to ensure that you don’t end up with mushy rice. If you don’t have any on hand, then the cooking time will need to be adjusted if another type of rice is used (e.g. Basmati).
You can garnish the jollof with sliced red onions or sprinkle on some chopped, fresh parsley for colour. You can also stir in some cooked mixed vegetables, like green peas.