Jollof

A jollof is a Nigerian dish of rice cooked with tomatoes. It is another of those one-pot dishes that pop up in the culinary landscape when one looks for them. Typically of most one-pot dishes, it is not very photogenic.

I discovered this by accident in a news article somewhere about a world record attempt on a huge jollof. I have no interest in the world record aspect but the idea of the meal appealed and so, naturally enough , I investigated it.

Recently I have discovered a real pleasure in one-pot dishes (sad but true) and this seemed to add a few more ideas to my studies.

The principal dish is vegetarian but it lends itself to adding meat if required. This version uses beef short ribs.

Recipe

• 2 cups long grain rice

• 2 cups beef stock

• 2 cups water

• 4 fresh tomatoes ( chopped up small)

• 1 large red onion ( finely chopped)

• 1 large red pepper (diced)

• 4 garlic cloves (chopped)

• 20g grated fresh ginger

• 2 tbsp tomato puree

• 1 tbsp sun dried tomato puree / paste

• 2 bay leaves

• 1 tbsp medium curry powder

• 1 tsp smoked paprika (dulce) no

• 1 tsp hot chilli powder

• 1 tsp dried thyme

• Oil for frying. (I used about 1 tbsp of olive oil)

The recipes I have seen also use goat or chicken. Goat isn't readily available in Dartmouth unfortunately and it is always good to have an alternative to chicken. on this occasion therefore, I used 3 beef short ribs for which were slow cooked in the sauce before adding the rice. There is nothing to say that this cant be a vegetarian dish as indeed it usually is i believe. I'll do one of those on another occasion with a mix of aubergine, long stemmed broccoli, lentils and potatoes and a vegatable stock.

Method

Pre heat the oven to 140C (fan).

Rinse the rice until the water runs clear and then leave to soak in warm water for about an hour.

Next add the oil to your cooking pot( which should be large enough to cook the whole dish in the oven with a close fitting lid) and heat. Add the chopped onions and fry for 5 minutes. Then add the diced peppers , the garlic and the minced ginger and fry for a further 2 minutes stirring to prevent anything sticking or burning.

Add the dry spices and stir well then after about a minute , drop in the chopped tomatoes and continue to cook for another 5 minutes.

When the tomatoes

are beginning to soften add the bay leaves ; the puree and the puree paste and stir well.

Add the beef stock and water and then the dried thyme. Season at this point before adding the beef short ribs ( about 3 or 500g).

Leave on the job to heat for a further 5 minutes and then place in centre of preheated oven.

Cook for about 4 hours.

Remove pan from oven and check the meat. If it is falling off the bone then you are ready to add the rice. If not put back in oven for a further 30 minutes.

Drain the rice and add it carefully to the pot. Stir carefully to distribute and the lid and return the pot to the oven. Turn the oven up to 160C ( fan) and cook for a further 40 minutes or until the rice is cooked.

Remove from oven and serve.

Observations

Instead of the fresh tomatoes you can use a 440g tin of chopped.

If using chicken, use boneless thigh and flavour or marinade it to your choice. (Maybe garlic yoghurt and hot paprika.) Instead of adding beef stock and water, add chicken stock and water and then add the marinaded chicken thighs before burying them with rice as per the method above.

i.e. Replace the high-lighted text in the method with the following:

Add two cups of chicken stock instead of beef and the water and then the dried thyme. Season at this point before adding the marinaded chicken thighs (500g). Careful the cooking liquor will still be quite hot.

If using vegetables, prepare your vegetables approrpiately depending on cooking time and add them with 2 cups of veteable stock and 2 cups of water and the thyme before the rice is added.