A Story of Jollof Rice

Jollof rice is a staple in most West African celebrations involving food and as such the taste for this delicious spicy versatile rice dish is making a mark beyond the continent.

Growing up in a very cosmopolitan environment with friends from all continents, we shared the foods from our various backgrounds and taught each other to cook the dishes we loved.  From middle-class English church fetes to barbecues with friends from other parts of the world, the dish they regularly request is jollof rice or as one of my Jamaican friend’s puts it “Jah love rice!”

African cooking – Jollof rice

There is always a debate amongst West Africans as to who created jollof rice, last year celebrated chef, Jamie Oliver was embroiled in what became known as “jollof-gate” – he dared to offer his own version of the dish.   Although I understood the anger, I had some sympathy with Jamie, because if you love a dish you should be able to interpret it.  After all where would the cookery book genre be if it wasn’t that you were allowed a little latitude to develop new recipes from old.

Jollof rice is usually served with a “stew”, so you will need to make the stew before you cook the jollof rice.  Once you have the basics and you become more experienced, you can adapt the recipe to your personal taste by using different oils, using less oil, using different cuts of meats or incorporating the meat stew and the rice and serving the dish as a “one pot” meal.  For a vegetarian option, you can use mixed vegetables. Whatever you do, please share with family and friends and enjoy.

This is africanpostmark.com’s jollof rice recipe.  Please try it, tweet us your results or if you cook your jollof rice in a different way, tweet us your recipe.

AfricanPostmark.com’s Jollof Rice Recipe.