When a friend of mine was pregnant with her first daughter, she woke up one morning and started crying, the tears was so much and the neighbours have to rush down to see if she was in any trouble since her boo had since left for work.
On rushing to her aid, she began to beg them that she needed to eat 'party jollof rice'!
Hilarious ain't it? But it wasn't funny o, the more they laughed, she cried harder until her husband was called from work, rushed down and had to go crash a naming ceremony somewhere since other was no party close by, and he brought home the 'party rice' for her that she stopped crying.
OMG! Its that crazy for some people.
So, what really makes the party rice special? Is it the spicies added, the smoke aroma that penetrates the rice while its being cooked on firewood or simply the burnt rice in the pot bottom's aroma?
Don't worry too much, here is how to specially relive that party jolof rice while you await the next 'owambe' to happen.
Serves: 10
Ingredients:
*6 Cups of rice
• 8 Plum Tomatoes
• 4 Tatashey(Red bell pepper)
• 4 Red scotch bonnet pepper(Ata rodo)
•1 cooking spoon Tinned tomato puree
•1 liter Liquid Stock (Boiled chicken, Turkey or beef water)
• 2 Red Onion
1/2 Ginger
• 5 Cloves Garlic,minced
• 4 Bay leaves 'whole'
• 1 tbsp. Dry Thyme
• 1 tbsp. Curry powder
• 4 Seasoning cubes
• 5 cups Rice
• Salt to taste
• Vegetable Oil for frying (I used Canola)
Directions:::
Preparation of the stock
Step 1: If you are using beef/chicken/turkey,wash and place in a pot. Season with crushed seasoning cubes, salt, curry, thyme and ground/minced ginger,chopped onion and garlic. Boil till tender. Remove the meat from the stock and fry in a seperate pan. Set the stock aside separately and the oil used in frying separately.
Step 2: Wash the rice thoroughly and place in a pot. Add enough water just enough to cover the rice and par boil for 10 mins. Wash the parboiled rice with cold water, drain and set aside. OR Soak the rice in hot water for some minutes, rinse with clean water, drain and set aside.
Step 3: Remove the seeds from the tatashey and wash well. Wash the Tomatoes, Scotch bonnet pepper (ata rodo) and onion well too. Blend everything to a smooth puree. Pour the Blended puree into an empty iron pot and boil till there's no water left leaving just the concentrated puree in the pot.
Step 5: Pour the oil you used in frying your meat into the pot you want to use to cook your jolof rice, Add the tinned tomato paste into the Boiled tomato and pepper puree. fry the tomato puree while stirring constantly so it doesn't get burnt for about 5 mins.
Step 6: Pour the Beef Stock (meat water) into the fried puree and mix. Add the dry thyme, Curry powder, Seasoning cubes (Crushed), Salt to taste. Gently add the parboiled rice into the puree and stock mixture and make sure the stock covers the rice, if it doesn't simply add water to ensure it does. Add the Bay leaves to the pot and cover.
Step 8: Leave the jollof to cook and soften and once you notice the liquid in the pot has almost dried up leaving concentrated tomato puree at the top, turn with a wooden spoon or spatula. At this time, Check if the rice is soft enough and also check for salt and if the seasoning from the stock is enough, if not add the necessary ingredients. If its not soft enough, add some more water and leave to dry up once more till its completely soft.
Turn to ensure the puree is evenly distributed. Now cover for 10 minutes to enable the rice burn alittle underneath
Step 9: Leave the rice to Burn underneath till you begin to smell it :D. Once it completely dries up at the top, turn off the stove and open the pot slightly for the vapor to evaporate.Your rice is ready.
Serve hot. You can garnish with peas and sweet corn or home made salad together with chicken or beef
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