Oven-baked Nigerian jollof: parboiled long-grain rice cooked in a reduced purée of tomato, red pepper, onion and habanero with thyme and bay, until every grain is separate and orange-red.
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
Obe ata (pepper base)
- 1 (14-ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes with their juices
- 1 medium red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and roughly chopped
- ½ medium red onion, roughly chopped
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1 (1-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 red habanero, stemmed
- 2 tablespoons canola or other neutral oil
Rice
- ½ cup canola or other neutral oil
- 2 medium red onions, halved and thinly sliced
- 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika (optional)
- 3 cups parboiled long-grain rice (about 1¼ lb)
- 5 fresh thyme sprigs
- 1 fresh bay leaf
- 2 cups beef, chicken or vegetable stock
- Kosher salt and black pepper
Directions
Key ingredients
Black Pepper · Salt · Turmeric
- Blend the obe ata ingredients, except the oil, until smooth, adding up to ¼ cup water if needed. It makes about 3 cups.
- Reduce. Simmer the purée in the 2 tablespoons oil, covered, over medium heat until reduced by about a third, to about 2 cups, 18–20 minutes. (It keeps 2 weeks refrigerated or 1 month frozen.)
- Onions. Heat the oven to 350 °F. In a Dutch oven, cook the onions in the ½ cup oil until soft, 6–8 minutes, and set half aside. Add the garlic for 2 minutes, then toast the tomato paste, turmeric and paprika until the paste turns dark red, about 2 minutes.
- Bake. Add the obe ata and bring to a simmer. Stir in the rice, thyme, bay, salt, pepper and stock. Cover and bake until just tender, 35 minutes.
- Rest 15 minutes, covered, without peeking. Fluff, fold in the reserved onions, and remove the herbs.
Notes
Source Adapted from Yewande Komolafe, “Jollof Rice,” NYT Cooking (2019).
A correction to the source It lists “parboiled long-grain rice (such as Carolina Gold or Uncle Ben’s Original).” Heirloom Carolina Gold is not parboiled; the line can only mean the supermarket Carolina® brand of the same name.
The crust The oven method has no smoky bottom crust, as the source says; party jollof cooked over wood does. The smoked paprika stands in for it. The liquid is kept modest on purpose so the grains stay separate.
The name “Jollof” names the Wolof Jolof state; the word that means “one pot” is benachin.
The Rice section’s West Africa and the Carolinas page (/rice/west-africa-and-the-carolinas/) covers the history and technique behind this dish.