Although the ongoing feud between Nigeria and Ghana regarding who’s Jollof rice is better may never be resolved, here comes our recipe for the best jollof rice.
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00:00It's still boiling.
00:03Who makes the best jollof rice in Africa?
00:06The Nigerians pretty much agree.
00:07Nigerian jollof rice is the best because they do it very well.
00:14But what makes it so special?
00:17The important thing I love about this jollof is the smoky effect.
00:22There's tiny bits of protein, there's pomo here, there's fish here.
00:27It's really, really nice.
00:28The color as well.
00:29It's giving Nigerian jollof, I love it.
00:33All over West Africa, people are arguing about who makes the best jollof rice.
00:37We'll come back to the jollof wars later.
00:40But first, let's get a few unbiased jollof lovers have their say in Lagos.
00:45Nigerian jollof rice is the best.
00:47I can eat it morning, afternoon, night.
00:50I eat jollof rice almost every day.
00:52And if I don't eat it in a week, I make sure I eat it on Sunday.
00:58Instead of just jollof, they specialize in jollof rice, which can be made on firewood,
01:02therefore giving it another term called firewood jollof, which gives the rice a smoky taste
01:07and very flavorful.
01:10For me, I feel jollof rice is a meal that is basically known for celebration growing
01:17up.
01:18And then right now in our society, there's no party without jollof rice.
01:22These are the ingredients you need.
01:25Rice.
01:26Most Nigerians prefer short grain rice compared to the long grain or basmati rice that the
01:30Ghanaians prefer.
01:31You need water, tomatoes, tomato paste, garlic, ginger, thyme, a variety of peppers, stock,
01:38crayfish, dried fish or shrimp to give the rice some additional flavor.
01:43So first of all, we'll start with this pot.
01:45This pot is an iron cast pot.
01:47It's called akmeri in Yoruba and it's very, very important in making your firewood jollof
01:52rice because for firewood, the flame is, the fire is very, very hot.
01:56So you need a pot that can stand it for like two to three hours because for you to make
02:02a very good, authentic, overpowering jollof, you need your jollof rice to burn.
02:05Now I'm going to add the butter, which is the margarine, into the Ghanaian fire.
02:10We have our shredded onion, our onions, cut into bits for flavor and it's very important
02:14in cooking and there's nothing like too much onions.
02:18You use as much onions as you can.
02:20Next we're going to go in with our tomato paste.
02:23I'm using half of a tin, half of the tin kind of tomato paste and I'm going to be using
02:31the same measurement for the pepper mix and give it a good stir.
02:40So for the pepper mixture, we use shombo.
02:44Shombo is a thickener.
02:45It helps to, it's a kind of pepper too, but it helps to bind everything together and you
02:50have your warudo for spice to give it a little bit of heat and then you have the tomato.
02:56Tomato is both sweet and savory.
02:58It also binds everything together and next thing we'll go in, we'll go in with our, our
03:02curry, our curry mix.
03:08Everything is coming out nice.
03:09I can already, I can already smell the bay leaf smell.
03:12I can already smell the curry and the thyme as well.
03:16I can already smell the garlic and some of the other spices that are mixed in the pepper
03:19mixture as well.
03:20Everything is coming out nice.
03:21The aroma.
03:22While the rice is on the stove, we take a look at where jollof comes from and what are
03:26the jollof wars all about.
03:28One factor contributing to the vast diversity of jollof stems from the movement of the wall
03:32of people across West Africa.
03:35Many countries of the subcontinent have their own methods of preparation and many people
03:39use a variety of spices, but the secret always lies in the type of pepper one uses.
03:46I feel like jollof rice is about, for different races and for like, okay, for Nigerian, for
03:53Ghana, for Senegalese, it's all about our palates.
03:56Growing up, everybody has different kind of pepper mix.
03:58For Nigeria, we have our tatashe, we have our shombo, we have our barodo, and we have
04:03our tomato.
04:04And it's grown on different soils.
04:06So the end result is always going to be different.
04:10Jollof is as diverse as Nigeria.
04:12Almost every region has its own, like coconut jollof or fada jollof, which is made from
04:16ofada sauce.
04:18Some people use crayfish as a replacement for fish, which gives it additional flavor.
04:23For you to be able to make a good, authentic jollof rice, you need to cook it for a long
04:28time.
04:29You need it for it to steam, you need the base to be perfect.
04:32A perfect base is a perfect jollof rice.
04:35A perfect stock water is a perfect jollof rice.
04:39After about 30 to 45 minutes, the jollof rice is ready.
04:43It is easy to dish and eat, so no need to use your hand to dig.
04:47But do enjoy with a spoon or fork.
04:49If you're looking for variety and you're looking for something different to give you a kick,
04:54I recommend the Nigerian ofada jollof rice.
04:57It tastes like no other.
04:59You would love it.
05:02Have you ever tried jollof rice?
05:04Surely not all the varieties.
05:06Then go ahead, because there's something for everyone.
05:09But the ongoing feud between Nigeria and Ghana regarding whose jollof rice is better
05:13may never be resolved.
05:15This is known as the jollof war.