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Jollof Rice

A tomato and pepper-based rice dish cooked with stock, spices, and optional dried shrimp.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and thyme are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,585 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Jollof Rice

Timeabout 10 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the sauce

  1. Combine the 5 chopped tomatoes, the bell peppers, chile pepper and medium onion and, working in batches, puree together in a blender.

  2. Set aside.

Cook the rice

  1. Bring 5 cups of water to a boil, add rice and enough chicken stock (about 2 cups) to cook rice.

  2. Add salt to taste.

  3. Cook on medium flame until rice is slightly softened, about 10 minutes.

Make the sauce and finish

  1. While rice is cooking, pour tomato-pepper mixture into a saucepan and add butter or vegetable oil, salt, curry powder and thyme to taste.

  2. Then add 3 sliced tomatoes, small sliced onion and dried shrimp, if using, to the sauce.

  3. Cook for about 6 to 10 minutes.

  4. Pour sauce into rice, mix together and simmer until rice is fully cooked, about 10 minutes.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

807Calories
63 gProtein
30 gFat
70 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 12 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Rice1 cup cooked (158g) white206
Chicken100g cooked165
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Shrimp100g cooked99
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Red Bell Pepper1 medium (119g)31
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Turmeric1 tsp ground (3g)9
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Thyme1 tsp dried (1.4g)4
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Pepper + thymetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Tomato + thymetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,370 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  3. Rice + chickentop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,769 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  4. Rice + tomatotop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,065 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Onion + thymetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,171 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Rice
Forms the bulk of the dish and absorbs the sauce and stock as it cooks.
Tomatoes
Provide the base of the sauce, adding acidity, body and deep red colour.
Red bell peppers
Add sweetness and body to the tomato sauce as they cook down.
Chicken stock
Supplies liquid and savoury flavour for the rice to cook in.
Butter or vegetable oil
Carries fat-soluble flavours from the spices and adds richness to the sauce.

The step that matters

Simmering the rice in the sauce. Rice takes up liquid as it cooks, so too much or too little liquid can leave it soggy or hard. Covering the pot and keeping a gentle heat helps the grains cook evenly without scorching on the bottom.

Swap the thyme

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, onion, tomato, pepper, chicken, butter, shrimp):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Thymethe original
  3. Celeryfits about as well
  4. Corianderfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, onion, tomato, pepper, chicken, butter, shrimp. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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