Native jollof rice (Palmoil rice) – Iwuk Edesi

Dobby

10 years ago

Native jollof rice is a traditional Nigerian meal which is enjoyed by many. it’s a palmoil based meal which is similar to the nigerian jollof rice but prepared with locally sourced ingredients such as okpei/iru,scent leaves, crayfish e.t.c .
Unlike the very popular Nigerian jollof rice which has vegetable oil and a mixture of tomato and pepper puree as its base, Native jollof rice a.k.a palm oil rice has palmoil as its base with pepper puree. This tends to give it that unique local flavor most people enjoy. If you don’t have ogiri okpei /iru or dawadawa, you can always prepare palmoil rice without although the addition of any of the listed tends to give the dish its authentic local flavor. For this meal, i used my old traditional Nigerian Wok in the preparation because it’s easier to wash off and it rarely gets burnt. it’s one of the most useful kitchen utensils i own which comes in handy whenever i want to make a quick one pot meal.

Ingredients:::

• 3 Cups Rice

• 3 Cooking spoon Palm oil

• 2 Medium Sized smoked fish – Optional

• 1 cup Crayfish, ground

• A handful Dried prawns – Optional

• 1 medium sized Onion, chopped

• 1 cup Freshly ground pepper Puree(3 Scotch bonnet, 6 Chili, 2 Tatashey) (Or as desired)

• 1 small Ogiri Okpei/ Dawadawa or 1/2 cup Iru

• 2 Seasoning cubes

• Salt to taste

• A handful Scent leaves/ Curry leaves, Chopped -Optional

Directions:::

Step 1: Wash the rice and parboil with clean water. Rinse and drain the excess water in a sieve – Set aside..

Step 2: For this meal, i used both Dry prawns, powdered crayfish and Smoked fish. To prepare the dry prawns, remove the sharp heads by breaking off gently. Rinse and Set aside. To prepare the smoked fish, gently open up the fish, remove the bones and gut, rinse and set aside.

Step 3: On medium heat, heat up the palm oil for about 4 minutes. Gently add the chopped onions and leave to fry for about 2 minutes. Add the pepper puree into the oil and stir-fry for about 5 mins.

Step 4: Add the Iru (That’s what i used for this meal)/ okpei or dawadawa (Dissolve in a little water before adding), add the dry prawns, powdered crayfish and washed smoked fish. Top up with water (remember the rice has been parboiled already so just add the quantity of water that’d slightly cover the rice), add the salt to taste, crushed seasoning and leave to cook for 7mins.

Step 5: Gently Add the drained parboiled rice and Chopped leafy vegetable (if using any), stir with a wooden spoon to mix well and leave to cook covered till the liquid in the pot gets absorbed by the rice.