My Oven Baked Jollof Rice

I thought the idea of my posting jollof recipes  was over  and I thought it ended the day I posted the jollof gari recipe, lol.  Oh boy  was I wrong and this post prooves it when this one smacked me in the face.   I spotted  this idea from a couple of African bloggers which gave me this idea and I am now going to show you how I made this yummy dish.

First of all I set the oven on between 350  to 375 F American  or between 180 to 190C Metric.

I have an oven that gets very hot and oven temps and cooking times my vary.  I took 1 kilo or 1 pound of meat washed and made sure it was well cleaned. The protein choices are  fish, chicken, turkey, smoked turkey, quail, cornish hen, oxtails, beef short ribs, beef, lamb, goat, veal, 1 cow’s tongue, 6 lamb’s or goat’s tongues, 1 package of  zabiha halal hotdogs,  hotlinks, smoked sausages,  1 can of zabiha halal lunchmeat,  1 can of corned beef,  titus sardines in oil, 1 can of fish in tomato sauce, 1 can of octopus or squid in oil will do nicely too.

The vegetable choices are frozen mixed vegetables, green peas, spinach,  fresh or frozen whole okra.

The types of rice is used is 3 cups of jasmine or basmati that is white or brown. The rest of the dish goes like this, I took out my small roasting pan.  I also have a large one but that is not what I wanted to use. I washed  my protein of choice and put it in the pan. I added 3 cups of water  and added my meat.  I had chicken in the fridge thawing so that is what I used.  I covered it and placed it in the oven for 30 minutes unseasoned.

This is where the stock or the juice is being made and this doesn’t go to waste.  I flipped it and let it cook for another 30 minutes.  Poultry is up to an hour for it to be done in the oven. Red meat like beef, lamb, goat, veal, oxtails,  cow’s, lamb’s or goat’s tongues beef shortribs  take about an hour  and a half.  I suggest cooking at 30  minute intervals and keep checking it to see how tender it is.

With fish I prefer a firm fish like mackeral, kingfish, or catfish,  because it will not fall apart and scatter all over the place right away.  The smaller piece like butterfish  and smelts is best for coating with gari then  frying. Even pomfret and tilapia is nice too, just  apply cooking spray and bake for 20  minutes, turn and cook the other side.

Only with fish gently remove and place on a plate. The tongues has their skins removed and cut in to small pieces.    With other red meats and poultry you can just leave it right there for the next step.  If using canned fish  just cook the plain jollof rice or add to the one made with vegetables only.  Since it is fully cooked there is no further cooking needed.  Just add the oil from the fish for more flavor.  The canned fish in oil is purely optional because some people don’t like the smell.

With the veggie choices add them to the pan with the water also like you did for the meat and cook in oven for 15 minutes.

Make the blended pepper puré and set it aside.  This is done while these are cooking.  1 added 1/4 cup of water for ease of blending, 1 chopped red bell pepper only, 1 habenero or scotch bonnet desseded, 1 small piece of ginger washed peeled and chopped, 3 cloves of garlic sliced, 1 onion chopped, 1 tomato chopped then blend all together and set aside.

Add  3 cups of rice to a pot.  Make sure  you  clean it well and make sure the water is not cloudy.  Add 9 cups of water then bring to  boil on high heat  and remove.  There Is already stock from the meat or juice from the vegetables. You don’t want soggy rice. Turn off the heat on the stove.

Take the roasting pan  with the meat  and or veg options or if you are just making plain oven baked jollof skip this step with the meat and veg.  Just add  the palm oil, crayfish, blended pepper puré, tomato paste and the rest of the seasoning that is stated below.

With meat and veg only add 1 oz of red palm oil, 1 pinch each of crayfish, Curry Powder , red chili powder, thyme, basil, white pepper, 1 bay leaf,  grind 1 pinch of black peppercorns and grind in to a coarse powder to add to the jollof, grated nutmeg equal to 1 pinch,  1 bullion cube, 3 tbs of tomato paste, the blended pepper puree and 3 dashes of maggi or knorr aroma.

Add  4 cups of water to the roasting pan and stir. If you are making plain oven baked jollof rice then it isn’t necessary to drain the rice.  If you are making with meat  and or vegetables, you have to drain the water from the rice before adding. I used a big strainer.  Plain jollof rice takes about 15 minutes to cook but keep checking.

If you are using tongue, you can add them back to the pan as of now after you add the rice. With the rest of the  proteins that has been in the pan that you don’t have to take out like chicken, turkey, smoked turkey, veal,  goat, lamb and beef shortribs and oxtails, just go ahead and add the palm oil, crayfish  and the rest of the seasonings that I stated above.

For those that  want the corned beef, hotdogs, zabhiha lunchmeat or even fish, cook the jollof like plain almost but add the fish  last.   The hotdogs,  hotlinks, smoked sausage, zabhiha lunchmeat, the fish that is in tomato sauce like goya sardines or geisha mackeral you can add rice is halfway done like cook the rice for 10 minutes and cut either the hotdogs,  or corned beef mix lightly and cook for another 15 or until the liquid is absorbed by the rice and the rice is soft and still holds its shape not mushy.

Turn the oven off when the rice is done and let it sit for 20 minutes before eating so it can catch all of the flavors.

The reason why I did this post is because It is jollof rice day and I want in so badly I am jumping on the bandwagon.   Enjoy with non acloholic brew or goya malta light!!!!!!!!!