Simple Vegetarian Jollof Rice

• servings: 6 servings
• active time: 10 minutes
• total time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Ingredients

3 medium tomatoes (please use plum/roma)

1-2 scotch bonnet peppers

1 large red bell pepper

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 medium onion (1/4 finely diced, 3/4 roughly chopped)

2 thumb size ginger

4 cloves of garlic

1/4 cup of tomato paste

2 tablespoons vegetable better than bouillon paste

2 ½ cups long grain jasmin rice

1/8 teaspoon baking soda (only useful for acidic tomatoes)

1 teaspoon anise seeds

1 teaspoon coriander seeds

1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds

1/2 teaspoon cloves

2 teaspoons curry powder

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon dried rosemary

2 calabash nutmegs (optional or sub with 1/4 tsp of nutmeg)

Directions

Blend the tomatoes, scotch bonnet pepper and red bell pepper and cook in a separate pot at medium to high heat for at least 15 minutes. As the tomato puree is cooking, prep the rest of your ingredients.

Blend the roughly chopped onions, garlic and ginger with 1/4 cup of water into a smooth paste and set it aside

In a large pot, heat the oil at medium heat for a few minutes

Add the finely chopped onions and saute in the hot oil till soft and translucent

Add the onion, garlic ginger paste, and let the onion mixture fry for 5-10 minutes to evaporate the extra water.

Add the tomato paste and allow it to cook at medium-low heat for 5 minutes.

Once the onion tomato paste base has cooked down, your tomato and pepper purée would have decreased in water content significantly. Add the puree to the stew, mix it well and let it cook for about 15 minutes at medium-low heat. While everything is cooking, grind the whole spices (except the bay leaf) into a powder.

After 15 minutes, add in the whole spices, your better than bouillon paste and mix well. Allow the sauce to cook for another 5 - 10 minutes. At this point the stew should be ready as oil would have separated to the top.

Taste the stew and make sure it tastes over-seasoned and over-salted. This is very important to ensure that the resulting jollof is not bland. Adjust the stew accordingly with more salt or bouillon cube/paste if needed.

Give your rice a very good wash. Since this is jasmine rice you want to wash it well to remove excess starch that can make the rice sticky.

Add in your washed jasmine rice and stir everything very well. Lower the heat to low, cover the pot and let the rice cook with the stew for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes, add 1 cup of water and mix it well. Sandwich a piece of parchment paper between the pot and the cover to trap steam in the rice and cook it well. Let the rice cook for about 20 minutes uninterrupted (i.e. do not open the pot).

After 20 minutes, you will notice some water has settled at the top of the parchment paper, you can pour the water back into the pot and give the rice a very good mix to ensure it is not getting burnt. Then cover the pot again with the parchment paper and let the rice cook for another 20 minutes (uninterrupted) before checking the rice.

After the 20 minutes have passed, check the rice to see if it is done. If it is still a little hard, cover the pot and let the rice cook for another 5-10 mins till it is done.

At this point, your jollof rice is ready. Serve with a side of protein and coleslaw and enjoy

Notes

If you do not have better than bouillon, you are welcome to use liquid veggie broth instead of water or any bouillon cube you might prefer.

Spices are incredibly customizable. Essential Ghanaian jollof spices are cloves, rosemary, and anise seeds. However, everyone has their preference. You can just use curry powder and use 1-2 tablespoons. Regardless of spices you use, please taste the stew to ensure it is well seasoned.