What it is
Rice cooked in a reduced base of blended tomato, red pepper and onion until each grain takes on the colour and flavour of the sauce. Nigerian versions favour long-grain parboiled rice, a heavy hand with pepper, and a deliberate layer of smoky scorching at the bottom of the pot.
Key ingredients
- Long-grain parboiled rice
- Tomatoes
- Red bell pepper and scotch bonnet
- Onions
- Groundnut oil
- Thyme, curry powder and bay leaf
- Stock from beef, chicken or fish
A list of what goes in, not a recipe. Quantities and method vary by household.
How it is eaten
Served hot with fried plantain, coleslaw or moi moi alongside, and with chicken, beef or fish. Eaten with a spoon.
Cultural significance
Jollof is the default centrepiece of Nigerian celebration food and the subject of a long-running and mostly good-humoured rivalry with Ghana and Senegal over who makes it best. The dish has roots in the Senegambian thieboudienne of the Wolof, from whom the name derives, and spread east along West African trade routes. Party jollof, cooked outdoors over firewood in enormous pots, is widely held to taste different from and better than the kitchen version.
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