Jollof Rice is one of our favorite African dishes. It originates from West African countries. It varies from country to country but our version is not the original it is one that we made our own with a few changes that suite our particular taste. Lets cook this wonderful dish and have fun together 🙂
This recipe is my mother in law’s. She is one of the best cooks I know, along side my mother and my grandma. The recipe makes 6 plates.
Ingredients
- Chicken breasts (500 g)
- 1 Medium Onion
- 1 cup of Bell Peppers (more than 1 color)
- Flour
- Vegetable Oil
- 1 1/2 cups Rice
- 1 tbsp Tomato Paste
- 1 Carrot (grated)
- 1/2 Cup Corn
- 1/2 cup Green Peas
- Black Pepper
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tbsp Kabse Spices
- 1 tsp Paprika
- 1 tsp Red Chili Powder
Prep work
Ask any French chef what is the most important thing to do in the kitchen, they will tell you it is the “Mise en place”. Preparing all the ingredients before we start cooking lets us focus on the cooking and helps keep our kitchen organized. Here’s what we have to do to prepare for the Jollof Rice:
- Butterfly our Chicken breasts by placing your hand on top of the breast and running a knife parallel to the cutting board right in the middle of the chicken.
- Chop the onion julienne style (long thin strips)
- Chop the bell peppers into small strips.
- Grate the carrot
- Wash the rice
- Mix the rice with the bell peppers, carrots, green peas, corn, tomato paste, salt, Kabse spices, paprika, and red chili powder.
- Prepare the dredge by mixing some flower, salt, and pepper.
Lets Start Cooking
Jollof is usually cooked in one pot. Following that wonderful spirit of creative laziness we are proud to say we will do the same.
Lets start by covering the bottom of the pan with a neutral oil. We will then dredge the chicken in our flour mixture and let it fry until we get that golden crust. Once all the chicken is cooked, remove them from the pan and keep aside.
We then add a bit more oil and the chopped onion to the same pan (we want to keep the juices of the chicken). This baby is going to fry until caramelized and is deliciously fragrant and golden brown.
Now comes the easy part. We layer the chicken on top of the onion, then, add the rice mixture we prepared on top of the chicken. Finally we add 3 cups of water. Set our stove to medium high until it starts to simmer then lower the heat to very low and let it cook.
When the water evaporates, the Jollof Rice is ready to serve. It can be served however you desire but we did not do all that wonderful layering for nothing. Here’s where our “hard work” will pay off. We got our serving dish and placed it on top of the pan. We then flipped the pan and the dish upside down quickly. We finally lifted the pan to reveal the layers of rice at the bottom, then a delicious layer of chicken, and finally everything is topped with caramelized onions.
Before you dig in, take a picture and show it to your mother in law and make her proud! 😛
Lama!!! I’m so excited to find out about your website. Those yummy dishes you’re posting are heavenly…and the Jellof rice is certainly one of the best dishes that I had whilst living in Nigeria 😋. we’ll done! I’m so happy to learn more and try each one of your recipes…. can’t wait to see more 😃