Smoky Party Jollof Rice
We have been looking for ways to get the smoky flavour in our dear Nigerian Party Jollof Rice without cooking with firewood. Are we magicians??? We may have an answer!
Smoky Party Jollof Rice [Video]
The following are other variations of Jollof Rice:
Ingredients
- 2 cups (400g) long grain parboiled rice
- 1.2kg (2.6lbs) hard chicken (hen)
- 5 plum tomatoes
- 3 tatashe peppers
- 2 onions
- A medium piece of ginger
- 1 cup (200g) tomato paste
- ½ cup vegetable oil for frying the tomatoes
- 2 Knorr cubes
- 1 habanero pepper (or to taste)
- 1 tablespoon thyme
- 2 teaspoons black pepper
- Salt (to taste)
- 1 tablespoon curry powder (Nigerian curry powder)
- 5 bay leaves (optional)
- 2 teaspoons liquid smoke
Notes about the ingredients
- One standard measuring cup (level) of long grain parboiled rice equivalent to 1 milk cup or 1 small party cup.
- If you do not have tatashe peppers, use 2 sweet peppers (paprika), the the video below for what sweet peppers are.
- Remember that tatashe, habanero peppers (atarodo, ose oyibo, atarugu) and black peppers are all spicy hot so be careful about the quantities of these peppers you add.
- Knoor cubes are boullion or seasoning cubes. I used chicken flavour because I cooked this Smoky Jollof Rice with chicken.
- I use hen when preparing Party Jollof Rice because it is tastier than the soft chicken (rooster).
- Nigerian curry powder is not spicy hot, it adds a nice flavour to this Smoky Party Jollof Rice.
- Plum tomatoes are the tomatoes sold in Nigerian markets.
- For best results in the Smoky Jollof Rice taste use tasteless and odourless vegetable oils: vegetable oils sold in Nigeria, Sunflower oil and Canola oil.
- Liquid smoke, natural hickory flavour is the secret ingredient! See below for details of where to buy it from.
Where to buy liquid smoke:
Click here to buy it on Amazon USA.
Click here to buy it on Amazon UK.
I am still searching for where to buy Liquid Smoke in Nigeria. In the meantime, you can use firewood to cook the Party Jollof Rice if you are in Nigeria. LOL
Before you cook Jollof Rice
The best way to see how to prepare the ingredients for this Smoky Jollof Rice is to watch the video below, click here.
- Blend the sweet pepper (deseeded), tomatoes (deseeded), habanero pepper, half an onion (chopped) with ginger juice. See the video below.
- Prepare the tomato stew. Boil the tomato puree till all the water dries up then fry with the vegetable oil and add a diluted tomato paste later and fry till all the tangy taste of tomatoes is gone. See the video below for details. Or visit the Tomato Stew page for details on how to do that.
- If you will use whole chicken then wash and cut it into pieces. Cook with the thyme, Knorr cubes, half of the black pepper, 1 onion (chopped) and the bay leaves. I use a pressure cooker to reduce the cooking time of the hard chicken. When done, grill it in an oven. You may also deep-fry it. This is to give it a golden look which is more presentable especially if you have guests for dinner.
- Parboil the rice using the method detailed in parboiling rice for cooking jollof rice. Watch the video below to see me do that.
Cooking Directions
The best way to see how to cook this Smoky Jollof Rice is to watch the video below, click here.
- Pour the chicken stock and the tomato stew into a sizeable pot and leave to boil.
- Add the drained parboiled rice, curry powder, salt, black pepper and liquid smoke. Stir. The water level should be the same level of the rice.
- Cover the pot and leave to cook on low to medium heat. This way the rice does not burn before the water dries up.
- If you parboiled the rice as shown in the video below, the rice should be done by the time the water is dry. Taste to confirm.
- Stir with a spatula and transfer the rice to a cool contain so it will stop cooking.
Serve with Fried Plantain, Nigerian Moi Moi, Nigerian Salad or Coleslaw.
If you have any questions about cooking the best Nigerian Jollof Rice, click here to ask me.
