Cooking with Jessona

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Nick Johnson

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Right, this is one of my absolute faves: jollof rice. This was a staple when I was younger, and my mum would spend hours making it. The smell, wow! Definitely a dish to impress! 

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So, we’re going to start with adding the four tomatoes, two red bell peppers, chillies and one red onion into the blender, and blend until smooth. Depending on your chilli tolerance, you can adjust as you go, but, for me, it’s got to be hot, hot, hot!

You may find that some bits get a little stuck, so just add a small amount of water to loosen it up. Then just set aside for later.

Now, grab your frying pan and add a good splash of oil and turn the heat up. Chop a large red onion. All good dishes start with an onion. Add this to the pan and cook for about three to four minutes on high. Add the tomato puree. The onions will soak up all of that delicious sweet, sticky and smoky flavour, and give the dish a real kick! 

Make sure you stir all the time. When I first started making this dish, I used to get black, burnt onions, and it completely ruins it. 

Once that has cooked through, grab the liquidised peppers and tomatoes blended earlier and add to the pan, but keep stirring.

Now for the fun part: flavour! You can be as experimental as you want with this. For now, keeping it traditional, stick with adding a couple of bay leaves, a tablespoon of thyme, a big pinch of salt, pepper, and break up a vegetable stock cube. 

You could add garlic and ginger, or maybe some smoked paprika if you want a bit more depth of flavour. For now, I am going to stick with this traditional recipe and leave this to simmer for about fifteen minutes.

This is the key ingredient: rice! My mother always told me you must wash the rice until the water becomes clear. It really does make a huge difference to the taste, and by removing the starch you avoid that really horrible gloopy, sticky rice.

Let’s just check on our sauce. Yup, looking and smelling great! Just turn down the heat a little and let’s add in the washed rice. 

Make sure that the rice is covered with that amazing sauce and stir thoroughly. You can add chicken or other meat at this stage if you like; it becomes almost like a pilau that you get in Indian cooking.

That rice will not cook properly unless we add a good amount of water, so here we go. 

The rice will keep absorbing the water during the cooking process and cause the rice to break up a little, giving you fluffy, flavoursome jollof rice. 

Once you’ve mixed that all up, just put the lid on top and leave to simmer on a very low heat for about an hour. Usually, I come and check every 15 to 20 minutes and give it a really good stir, making sure all of that flavour is evenly mixed. You may think that there isn’t enough water in the pot, but it’s actually the steam that is cooking the rice. 

And there you go: a simple rice dish, but with maximum flavour. Gosh, that is good!

It’s comfort, filling, nutritious all in a bowl. Now, with the kids at school, time to find a spot on the sofa, get comfy and enjoy this meal. 

     

[ENDS]

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