Tasty tale of West Africa’s Jollof Rice
It’s almost impossible not to expect jollof rice, one of West Africa’s most coveted dishes, at any Nigerian occasion, be it a wedding, naming ceremony, birthday party and even funeral. When children cry for food, it’s hardly a surprise if they actually mean jollof rice. But surprisingly, not every fan of the delicacy knows its […]
It’s almost impossible not to expect jollof rice, one of West Africa’s most coveted dishes, at any Nigerian occasion, be it a wedding, naming ceremony, birthday party and even funeral. When children cry for food, it’s hardly a surprise if they actually mean jollof rice. But surprisingly, not every fan of the delicacy knows its origin, traceable to the Wolof, an ethnic group in what is today Senegal.
Even this can’t be proved, Ayo Adeyele, a restaurant manager in Abuja, said. “Senegal has a lot of rice varieties and has been known to produce it in large quantities. I learnt that they are one of the nations that started planting rice in a unique way on dry ground. I think they consume more rice than Nigeria, but you can’t say that jollof rice originated from Senegal because there’s no rice called jollof rice. Before jollof rice becomes what it is, it must pass through some processes.”
Still, historical evidence points to Senegal.
The Wolof Empire was a medieval West African state that ruled parts of Senegal and the Gambia from approximately 1350 to 1890. It comprised of Kayor, Baol, and Walo with Jolof as the metropolitan power. At that time, the region, from the Gambia River to Liberia, was also known as the Rice Coast because rice, millet and other grains were farmed along the banks of the Senegal River. So, it has become a valid argument that the name ‘jollof’ came from jolof and mainly because the region was said to be an established Portuguese trading port where goods (particularly rice) and services were exchanged.
Jollof is made in different ways. There’s what Nigerians call the party jollof rice, simply because it’s cooked over an open fire with firewood, giving it a distinct smoky aroma and taste. Another style involves adding locust beans (known as Iru in Yoruba). Popular among the Yoruba in Nigeria, it’s a one-pot dish which includes parboiled rice, palm nut cream, locust beans, dried catfish, dried crayfish, and several more ingredients.
Christabel Philip, a graduate of Hospitality Management and staff of Smart Chops restaurant, pointed out that what makes Jollof rice vary is simply a matter of recipe and method of preparation. “There’s the palm oil jollof that’s palm-oil based and has to be red enough and made without tomatoes. It’s prepared with locust beans and Uyaka, an extracted local flavour from Cross River,” she said, adding that another, generally made across Nigeria, includes a combination of groundnut oil or vegetable oil, tin tomato, and fried stew (before the rice is poured). She calls this ‘public jollof rice’.
“Then there’s the white jollof, made without any kind of oil, but with a lot of vegetables and green leaves. It’s sometimes called vegetable rice. It’s eaten with leaves and is common among Yorubas. It also has a lot of dried fish in it,” she said.
When it comes to the northern part of Nigeria, Philip is familiar with a different version of jollof rice made with local rice, “like the one used in making tuwon shinkafa.”
Like some Nigerians, Philip thinks the best jollof is made in Nigeria and her reason is because “we have a lot of home-made jollof rice that’s not done by professionals. Also, we have many varieties.”
In restaurants across the country, the palm-oil based jollof rice Philip described is also called Native Jollof Rice.
Most Nigerian ethnic groups make use of locust beans in their jollof rice, Amina Yusuf, a house wife said. But the way the locust beans is prepared varies in different parts of the country. “Some fry it while some don’t,” she said. “When it comes to making jollof rice, some fry the tomatoes while some don’t. The same goes for the onions. For some, the last thing to go into the pot is the palm oil.”
Due to the popularity of jollof rice, there has been a longstanding debate between Nigerians and Ghanaians on which country makes it best and who invented it. It has been argued that according to the geographical origin and the era that the dish began to spread across the West African region, and the available mediums of transportation at the time, it is undoubtedly practical that it would have gotten to Ghana before Nigeria. But the argument has continued, on social media and even television shows. In 2016, Okay Africa brought together Ghanaians and Nigerians, and blindfolded them. They were given plates of jollof rice to eat. Nigerian model Aminat Ayinde was shocked when she discovered she enjoyed the Ghanaian jollof more than that made by a Nigerian.
Recently, CNN’s Richard Quest, during a visit to Nigeria, asked Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, which country makes the best Jollof rice and the latter’s answer was Senegal. This further fanned the flame. Not surprisingly, some Nigerians were displeased by his response (even when Quest explained later that the minister didn’t hear his question properly).
Although considerable variation exists, the key ingredients for the classic Nigerian jollof rice include parboiled rice, tomatoes, pepper, vegetable oil and onions. Common additional accessories and seasonings include meat stock, stock cubes, curry powder, dried thyme, garlic and/or ginger, white pepper, crayfish and bay leaves. Most of the ingredients are fried in one pot, of which a spicy tomato and pepper puree forms the base. Rice is then added and allowed to cook in water or stock. This dish is typically served with meat and such side dishes as moi moi, fried plantain, Nigerian salad and coleslaw. The type of jollof rice served at Nigerian parties often has a smoky taste and aroma as it tends to be cooked in a cast iron pot with firewood.
Local versions of jollof rice are often cooked with palm oil, smoked fish and local spices and there are variations of classic jollof rice, including mixed vegetable jollof rice, coconut jollof rice, and rice and beans. Riverine Nigerians often add seafood such as shrimp.
Ghanaian Jollof rice, on the other hand, is made up of vegetable oil, bell pepper, cloves of pressed garlic, chillies, tomato paste, beef or chicken, jasmine or basmati rice and black pepper. The method of cooking Jollof rice begins with first preparing the beef or chicken by seasoning and frying it until it is well cooked and golden brown. The rest of the ingredients are then fried together, starting with onions, tomatoes and spices in that order. After all the ingredients have been fried, rice is then added and cooked until the meal is cooked. Ghanaian Jollof is typically served with side dishes of beef, chicken or well-seasoned and fried fish and mixed vegetables.
However, some Nigerians have argued that what makes the Nigerian party jollof rice stand out is the distinct aroma and taste it has after being cooked with firewood.
In 2014, there was unified fury among West Africans when Jamie Oliver, a British celebrity chef, published his own ‘interpretation’ of jollof rice. The Oliver recipe attracted 4,500 comments; a large number of them seemingly from Africans, with many outraged at what they say are changes Oliver has made to the traditional recipe. The story was the same on twitter where many joined the debate with the hashtag #jollofgate.
Oliver had used coriander, parsley and a lemon wedge, ingredients that users online said are not usually associated with the recipe. But what really offended them was the 600 grams of cherry tomatoes ‘on the vine’.
Africans were not happy that Oliver’s recipe was a great departure from the original and it didn’t matter how much exposure the celebrity chef had given the dish.
Vera Kwakofi, from BBC Africa, said that’s part of the problem: “The danger is that in five years his version will become the official one.”
This is not the first time social media users have targeted a Jollof recipe. Before that, the supermarket chain Tesco removed its Jollof rice recipe from its website after complaints on twitter said it had nothing to do with the real thing.