Jollof rice, the way it should be
Smoky, deeply savoury and worth the argument. The base is a slow-cooked pepper stew — rush it and you get orange rice, not jollof.
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 45 min
- Serves
- 6
- Difficulty
- medium
Ingredients
- 3 scotch bonnet peppers, stems removed
- 100ml palm oil
- 2 tbsp suya spice mix
- 500g long-grain parboiled rice
- 3 red bell peppers and 2 large tomatoes
- 2 onions, one blended and one sliced
Method
Blend the bell peppers, tomatoes, scotch bonnets and one onion until smooth. Pour into a wide pan and boil hard for 15 minutes until it thickens and loses its raw edge. This step is the whole dish — do not shorten it.
In a heavy pot, heat the palm oil and fry the sliced onion until soft. Add the suya spice and stir for a minute until it smells toasted.
Add the reduced pepper base and cook for 10 minutes, stirring, until the oil separates and floats.
Stir in the washed rice until every grain is coated. Add just enough stock to come level with the rice — no more.
Cover tightly, turn the heat as low as it goes, and leave it for 25 minutes. Do not lift the lid.
Take it off the heat and let it steam, still covered, for 10 minutes. Fluff and serve.
Every West African family has a position on jollof, and none of them are negotiable. What follows is not a settlement of that argument — it is simply a method that works.
The one thing every good version shares is a pepper base that has been cooked down properly. If your rice comes out orange rather than deep red, the base was not reduced enough.
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