Happy Thanksgiving – Jollof Rice

Happy Thanksgiving! I’m glad to be done. I continued with my personal tradition of cooking a nontraditional meal. I usually cook something new or difficult, as least to me. This year was no different. Not only was everything new, but I went international with the flavor profiles. I can’t tell you how nerve wrecking it is to be cooking all new food, with no plan B. Whew

I went locally to the Americas for loaded vegan nachos with vegan cheese sauce and across the waters for an African inspired Pumpkin Stew and Jollof rice.

After a recent trip to my loctician (someone trained in the hair care maintenance of dreadlocks or locs as they are more commonly known. ) in which I sampled of her Jollof rice, I knew I would learn how to make this dish. Unfortunately for me, she does not used a recipe, she cooks as if she has been eating this all her life. Sigh, I would have to figure it out on my own. I knew there was an ongoing debate between several African nations as to which country has the best Jollof rice. I tried to find a recipe from her country…I could not. I had to settle for a recipe that was cooked in the style of a surrogate country.

Here’s the recipe I used. How To Cook Jollof Rice | Ivonne Ajayi

What would I do differently?

• Use less onion!I should have look at the scale of the onion in her video. The onions I got by comparison where huge. One of my onions would have been two of hers.
• Either soak my rice, not just rinse, to remove starch and/or add less water. I did not have nice individual gains of rice. I had a big pot of gummy rice. Which is what we did not want, lol (watch the video or read the recipe).
• Make a much smaller portion. There is no way I can eat all of this rice

How my recipe differed?

• I did not have thyme on hand, I substituted Italian seasoning.
• I used a veggie cube instead of a chicken cube.

I can see where I went wrong with the onion, I’ll correct the next time. It was edible, but I don’t want edible. I want rice that would do any one proud from the African continent. This was not it. Stay tuned for a do-over.