A one-pot tomato and pepper rice cooked in the broth from poaching the chicken, which is then roasted sticky while the rice finishes.
Untested: not yet made in this kitchen. It is here for the Rice section’s regional pages and is adapted from the source named in the Notes.
Ingredients
For the broth
- 8 bone-in chicken thighs or drumsticks
- 1 large onion, roughly chopped
- 1 Scotch bonnet chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh or dried thyme leaves
- 2 tablespoons crayfish powder
- 6 Guinea peppers (grains of paradise), crushed
For the tomato sauce
- 6 large tomatoes, roughly chopped
- 200 g (7 oz) tomato purée (tomato paste)
- 1 teaspoon salt
For the jollof
- 4 tablespoons peanut oil or sunflower oil
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 teaspoon ground hot chilli powder
- 300 g (10½ oz) long-grain white rice, washed and drained
- 1 handful chopped fresh parsley and coriander, to garnish
Directions
- Heat the oven to 180 °C (160 °C fan), 350 °F, gas 4.
- Put all the broth ingredients in a heavy casserole over low heat, add just enough water to cover, and bring to the boil. Simmer for 18 to 20 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.
- Lift the chicken onto a baking tray, cover it with foil and keep it warm. Strain the broth into a jug and keep that warm too.
- Blend the tomatoes, tomato purée and salt until smooth.
- In a large pan, fry the onion in the oil over medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and chilli powder and fry for another 4 to 5 minutes. Stir in the tomato sauce and the reserved broth.
- Add the rice and stir to coat it. Turn the heat down to a bare simmer, cover the pan with foil and then the lid, and cook for 30 minutes, until the rice is tender and has taken up the liquid.
- Halfway through the rice, uncover the chicken and roast it for 15 minutes, until browned and sticky.
- Serve the rice with the chicken, scattered with parsley and coriander.
Notes
Source Adapted from Zoe Adjonyoh’s jollof on BBC Food, from Nigel Slater: Eating Together (2015). Adjonyoh is a Ghanaian-heritage cook and the author of Zoe’s Ghana Kitchen. The page itself calls the dish “a West-African speciality” and does not say Ghanaian, and it names none of the markers often given for Ghana’s style: jasmine or basmati rice, or shito on the side. It is filed here as the Ghanaian-authored jollof the collection was missing, not as a definitive Ghanaian version.
Watch the liquid The rice cooks in the tomato sauce plus all the strained broth, but the broth is made with “just enough water to cover” the chicken, so the source gives no volume. Measure what you strain and check the pot as it cooks: add a splash of hot broth or water if it dries before the rice is tender, and uncover for the last few minutes if it is wet.
The spice “Guinea peppers” is printed as grains of paradise; the English name is used for more than one West African spice, so buy grains of paradise if in doubt.
The dish The Rice section’s West Africa and the Carolinas page (/rice/west-africa-and-the-carolinas/) covers what “jollof” means and the Nigeria–Ghana rivalry. For comparison the collection also has Nigerian Jollof Rice.
The photo The photograph shows a Ghanaian jollof plate with grilled chicken, coleslaw and a dark pepper sauce, not this exact recipe.