JOLLOF MY JOLLOF
Jollo jollo, how far na, do shakara joor today na your day, eeya DAB!!!



All through childhood(in the slum, where I grew up) Garri was the most essentially popular food, as it was the surest component of the days meal, and since food is imperative for the release of energy, one can invariably say GARRI to a greater extent is responsible for the existence of most of us (in my country the poor greatly outnumbers the elite).
One thing I would never forget to remember from those days, was JOLLOF RICE. It was associated to festivities, you know; birthdays, freedoms and graduations, namings, weddings, housewarmings, funerals, among others. It also pertook as the third party to frivolity.
To me there were varieties of Jollof, banga jollof, party Jollof, home Jollof etc but I enjoyed the Party jollof like kilode especially the ones at the bottom of the pot.
Those days, at our place, Angel Jollof visited on Christmas day, New year day, Easter, some birthdays, and really really(the repetition is for emphasis) good and special days. That' was then anyway we almost eat jollof, no yellow curried and thymed rice(not our fault sef na economy cause am) every week.
Today is world jollofrice day, and most people are ignorant of this... Anyway let me take you through the brief history of that nice guy called JOLLOF RiCE.
Before I start on it History, I'd like everyone to use this day to reach out to those who are hungry, homeless and helpless around them...

Jollof rice /ˈdʒɒləf/, also called Benachin (Wolof: "one pot"), is a one-pot rice dish popular in many West African countries especially Nigeria, eaten whenever desired. It is the progenitor of the Louisianian dish jambalaya. It is alternatively called Benachin, riz au gras, theibou dienn. The main ingredients for preparing it are; Rice, tomatoes and tomato paste, onions.
The points of origin of the dish are hotly debated among Ghanaians and Nigerians, each claiming to be the original inventors of the Jollof rice. Based on its name its origins are also traced to the Senegambian region that was ruled by the Jolof Empire. Food and agriculture historian James C. McCann considers this claim plausible given the popularity of rice in the upper Niger valley, but considers it unlikely that the dish could have spread from Senegal to its current range since such a diffusion is not seen in "linguistic, historical or political patterns". Instead he proposes that the dish spread with the Mali empire, especially the Djula tradespeople who dispersed widely to the regional commercial and urban centers, taking with them economic arts of "blacksmithing, small-scale marketing, and rice agronomy" as well as the religion of Islam.
Jollof rice is one of the most common dishes in Western Africa, consumed throughout the region including Senegal, Gambia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Togo, Cameroon, Mali and Ghana. There are several regional variations in name and ingredients, with non-local versions regarded as "inauthentic". The name Jollof rice derives from the name of the Wolof people, though now called theibou dienn or benachin. In French-speaking areas, it is called riz au gras. Despite the variations, the dish is "mutually intelligible" across the region, and has spread along with the diaspora to become the best known African dish outside the continent.
This Dish is so important for West African culture that it sparked an infamous controversy #JollofGate in 2014. When, eager to try out his own version, celebrity chef Jamie Oliver accidentally unleashed the fury of his West African fans when he posted an experimental recipe for jollof, admonishing readers to add coriander, parsley and lemon, none of which are traditionally associated with the dish.
Ozoz Sokoh, author of the Kitchen Butterfly food blog, empathised with Oliver but said the dish is so essential to West African culture that “at home and in the diaspora, we will take up arms to defend anything and everything about it – its origin, preparation and by God, how it is served.” (culled from an article by Eromo Egbedule in theGuardian on #riceGate and other scandals)

To prepare my favorite, party jollof I went to auntie dooneykitchen blog for help. Check it out;
The simplicity of the ingredients is key, and they are:

Long grain rice
Tomatoes
Red Onions
Tatashe (red bell pepper)
Ata Rodo – scotch bonnet/habanero pepper
Tomato Paste
Olive oil
Curry Powder
Dried Thyme
Salt
Seasoning cube
Beef Stock
Ginger
White Pepper
Eya start cooking
1. Blend the tomatoes, onions, tatashe (red bell pepper) and ata rodo (scotch bonnet/habanero pepper) to a smooth paste. Heat it in a pot to reduce the volume till you see small dots (bubbles) in the pepper. It is very important to achieve this, to boil out the water content.

2. Pre-boil the rice first. Remember I wrote above that the rice is combined with a fried tomato sauce. To do this, you have to pre-boil the rice to start the cooking process. To pre-boil the rice, pour the rice unwashed into a pot with a lot of water. Dooney’s Kitchen Tip: I will explain later why unwashed. Let the rice come to a boil till you can see the creamy starch floating on top of the water and the rice has now the white colour of boiled rice. Taste the rice and make sure it is al dente before taking it off the heat. Al dente is Italian for cooked to be firm but not hard. Be careful now, any more cooking and you will make baby food Jollof rice and not Party Jollof rice.

3. Once the rice is al dente, pour out all the water and then proceed to wash the rice. By washing the rice at this point with cold water you are stopping the cooking process. Many times I watched the women hired to cook for the party do this and I didn’t understand why. I found out the reason why when I got older and I watched a cooking show, on how to blanch tomatoes. This is a very common process with cooking vegetables, especially green veggies such as asparagus, runner beans and even corn. As they are larger food items, you pour into a bowl filled with ice cubes but with rice, simply decant the hot water into the sink and open the tap to maximum flooding the pot with cold water to stop the cooking process so the rice retains its al denteness (pardon my french, lol).

4. While the rice is pre-cooking, fry the tomato sauce with 4 – 5 cooking spoons of olive oil. You need this much to fry the pepper properly. To fry the tomato sauce chop at least 1 red onion, (2 if you are making a large quantity of jollof rice) and fry lightly in your choice of oil. Once the onions are translucent add the reduced pepper from step 1. Dooney’s Kitchen Tip: If you have boiled the pepper properly, the frying process will start immediately. If not the pepper will boil instead and prolong the cooking time. Add curry powder and dried thyme in tablespoon increments, and taste every few minutes. Let your taste buds and personal preference decide if you want to add more. Be careful though you don’t want the spices to overpower the sauce.

5. At the beginning the oil will combine well with the pepper. You will know it has fried when the oil floats to the top and the colour has changed from golden to deep orange. Now add the tomato paste. Dooney’s Kitchen Tip: You don’t want to add the tomato paste at the beginning because it will thicken the reduced pepper and burn. Add the tomato paste – lots of it (a ratio of 60% mixed pepper – 40% tomato paste) and add beef stock.

Dooney’s Kitchen Tip: The stock is to help thin out the paste to reduce the chance of burning and to also provide salt and seasoning. If you add the paste straight from the can it will definitely burn.

6. Let the tomato paste fry with the pepper till it thickens and small bubbles form in the pepper which gives it a curdled look. Taste for salt and seasoning. If it needs more, add more. Now it is time to add the pre-cooked rice to the pot followed by more beef stock and then stir.

Dooney’s Kitchen Tip: Old wives tale alert – the hired party cooks say stir with a wooden spoon and not a metal spoon to prevent the rice from clumping. How true this is, I don’t know but erm, I do it. Lol. Keep adding the stock till it just slightly covers the rice. Cover the pot midway and watch the rice closely. Once it has absorbed the stock, tear the seams of a supermarket plastic bag to make it flat or use a large piece of foil paper, place on top of the rice and seal the edges where the plastic bag/foil touches the pot. it is important that you seal the edges so no steam escapes. Then you cover the pot properly.

Dooney’s Kitchen Tip: this is to enable the rice cook in its own steam, so you will not need additional stock or water which is the main reason behind soggy jollof rice which ironically also burns. This is a tip I learnt from those hired party cooks. It will burn a little for sure, and you want that anyway to create a smokey flavour.

7. After a few minutes, check the rice and stir. If some bits have burnt, no problem, just try not to scrape the bottom of the pot harshly while you stir. Taste the rice for softness. If it is still too firm, add a little stock, and I mean a little. You may never need to top up. If you do, you will probably need to do this only once. Cover again with the plastic or foil wrap and let it cook till the rice is totally soft. Stir, again to allow the sauce to combine with all the bits of the rice.

Dooney’s Kitchen Extra Hints and Tips

Don’t cook this in a non stick pot or heavy metal based pots that prevent food from burning. This is party Jollof rice people, you want it to burn a little.

Keep some of that rich fried tomato sauce. You will need it for your fried/grilled chicken, meats and fish plus dodo gizzard which I will discuss in another post.

Party Jollof rice
http://dooneyskitchen.com/party-jollof-rice/