Jollof Stuffed Chicken

This recipe is simply the classic Jollof Rice cooked inside the belly of whole chicken. It's a different way to serve Jollof Rice this festive season.
Jollof Stuffed Chicken [Video]
The following are other variations of Jollof Rice:
Classic Party Jollof Rice
Coconut Jollof Rice
Mixed Vegetable Jollof Rice
Rice and Beans

Ingredients

For the Jollof Stuffed Chicken in the video below, I used:

• 3 cups long grain parboiled rice
• 2 cups Tomato Stew
• 1 whole chicken (male chicken)
• 2 carrots
• 1 cup green peas
• 1 red onion
• 2 seasoning cubes
• 2 teaspoons thyme
• 2 teaspoons black pepper (or to taste)
• 10 bay leaves
• 2 teaspoons curry powder
• 2 teaspoons onion powder
• Salt (to taste)
• 3 cubes Chicken oil (optional), see video below.

Notes on the ingredients

1. The seasonings listed above are my favourites when preparing chicken. Feel free to add your favourite seasonings and herbs.
2. I always use male chicken which is the soft chicken when making whole chicken recipes because it cooks faster than the hen.
3. If you do not have chicken oil, use any of the following: vegetable oil, sunflower oil, olive oil.

Before you cook the Jollof Stuffed Chicken

1. Prepare the tomato stew. Visit the Tomato Stew page for details on how to do that. It is advisable to prepare tomato stew before hand and keep in the freezer. This is so that whenever you want to cook any jollof rice related dish, it is just a matter of adding it to your cooking.
2. Parboil the rice using the method detailed in parboiling rice for cooking jollof rice. Rinse the parboiled rice with cool water and put in a sieve to drain.
3. Clean the chicken thoroughly with water.
4. Grind the seasoning cubes, thyme, black pepper, onion powder and curry powder with a spice grinder to form a powder. Rub this powder all over the chicken and inside the chicken. Cover and keep in the fridge to marinate for at least 30 minutes.
5. Scrape the carrots. Dice the onion and carrots as shown in the video below.

Cooking Directions

1. Add the chicken oil to the frying pan. When it heats up, sautee the diced carrots and onions for about 5 minutes.
2. Put the parboiled rice in a pot. Add the sauteed carrots and onions, tomato stew and the remaining seasoning powder. Pour water to same level as the rice and stir very well.
3. Scoop some of the rice into the inside of the chicken. When full, tie it up with a food safe twine.
4. Scoop the remaining rice into a baking dish (casserol dish) and place the stuffed chicken into the well of rice. See video below.
5. Stick the bay leaves into the rice in strategic positions.
6. Cover with a foil to prevent the rice from drying out. Leave the chicken exposed. See the video below to see how I did mine.
7. Bake in a preheated oven at 200 dec C (400F) till the chicken is well cooked. I usually bake for 20 minutes then afterwards bake for 1 hour per kilogram of chicken. The chicken I used weighed 2kg (4.4 lbs) so I baked for 20 minutes then baked for 2 hours more. That is a total of 2 hours 20 minutes. If you wants yours very brown and golden, bake for much longer. I prefer mine just cooked and moist like boiled chicken.
8. When done, add the green peas on top of the rice, stir the top a bit and bake for 5 more minutes. That's it!

See also: Roasted Whole Chicken.