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Nigerian Jollof Rice

A West African rice dish cooked in a tomato and pepper sauce with stock, served with fried meat or chicken.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 18 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,380 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Nigerian Jollof Rice

Serves 5

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Blend together the tomatoes, peppers, and the 2 large onions and set aside.

  2. Boil, then deep-fry the meat. Set aside.

  3. Put a 2-liter pot on the fire and allow any residual water in it to dry. Add the groundnut oil and let it heat up.

Make the stew

  1. Add the diced onion and tomato purée. Stir constantly for 3–5 minutes then add the blended pepper mixture.

  2. Add about 200 ml of the reserved meat stock, stock cubes, bay leaves, curry powder, thyme, cinnamon, ginger, garlic, and crayfish. Stir for about 10 minutes.

  3. Add about 1.2 liters of water and allow to boil.

Cook the rice and serve

  1. While waiting for the mixture to boil, wash the rice about 3–4 times or until the water is clear, then drain in a sieve.

  2. When the pot boils, add the rice and season with salt. Use a wooden spatula to mix everything until you are sure that the rice is not just resting on one spot. Depending on the rice, you may need to add a little more water but remember to stir constantly with the wooden spatula in order to minimize the rice sticking to the bottom of the pot.

  3. When you have attained your desired texture for the rice, reduce the heat to allow any residual water to be absorbed.

  4. Serve and garnish with the fried beef/chicken.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

870Calories
66 gProtein
34 gFat
74 gCarbs

Counts 15 of 17 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 15 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Beef100g cooked250
Rice1 cup cooked (158g) white206
Chicken100g cooked165
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Bell Pepper1 medium (119g)31
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Turmeric1 tsp ground (3g)9
Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Thyme1 tsp dried (1.4g)4
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Bay Leaf1 leaf (0.6g)2
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Scotchnot in our table0
Crayfishnot in our table0

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 Wikibooks Cookbook.

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. Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Tomato + garlictop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,076 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

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

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

  5. Thyme + garlictop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,608 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes
Break down into the sauce base, providing moisture, acidity and body for the rice to cook in.
Tomato purée
Concentrates the tomato flavour and deepens colour once fried in oil.
Bell peppers
Add sweetness and bulk to the blended base of the sauce.
Rice
Absorbs the seasoned stew as it cooks, becoming the main body of the dish.
Groundnut oil
Carries heat and flavour when frying the aromatics and tomato base.
Onions
Provide sweetness and savoury depth to the base of the stew.

The step that matters

Stirring the rice once the pot boils. Rice sitting on the bottom scorches and sticks, so stirring constantly with a wooden spatula spreads it evenly and helps prevent burning while the grains absorb liquid.

Swap the cinnamon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, pepper, onion, beef, thyme, ginger, garlic):

  1. Cuminfits better
  2. Oreganofits better
  3. Corianderfits better
  4. Cinnamonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, pepper, onion, beef, thyme, ginger, garlic. 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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