This Beloved “Celebration Rice” Has a Crispy, Crunchy Secret

In lots of elements of Nigeria, our core reminiscences embody feasting on jollof rice (additionally sometimes called jollof), particularly the smoky get together rice model. It is the dish you’ll be able to rely on seeing at nearly each celebration: birthdays, weddings, Sunday household lunches, and extra. There’s even a saying, “A celebration with out jollof is only a assembly,” and it is true.

Although we make high-quality pots of it in Nigeria, jollof is not ours alone—it originated in Senegal and The Gambia, the place it is often called thiéboudienne and benachin, respectively. Right now, it is a beloved staple all throughout West Africa, with every nation placing its personal stamp on the dish via the selection of rice, seasonings, and different additions. In Senegal, damaged jasmine rice cooked with fish in rof—a inexperienced parsley sauce—together with greens, is the basic model. In Ghana, aromatic jasmine rice lends a definite aroma to the pot. In Nigeria, we favor parboiled (transformed) long-grain rice, which holds its form whereas absorbing the richly spiced sauce. One in every of my private favorites is Nigerian smoky get together jollof—the sort that tastes prefer it’s been lovingly cooked in somebody’s yard, in an enormous pot over a wooden fireplace, simply because it was earlier than fuel stoves took over.

Historically, that deep, unmistakable smoky taste got here from the sheer scale and methodology of cooking: large, blackened cauldrons balanced over open flames, the rice on the backside catching simply sufficient warmth to toast and char with out burning via. That is the flavour of outside events, the odor that tells you you are in for a superb time. Lately, I recreate it at residence with a stovetop shortcut that will get surprisingly shut—no firewood required.

The bottom line is persistence and timing. First, you prepare dinner the long-grain rice in a wealthy tomato-pepper base with curry powder, dried thyme, and curry-scented Nigerian inventory—till the grains are tender and the flavors meld. Solely then, as soon as the rice is simply tender, do you flip up the warmth, and that is when the actual get together begins. For just some minutes, you let the rice toast in opposition to the underside of the pot, making a layer that is deeply browned, a bit of crisp, and infused with a candy, smoky aroma. The rice will crackle and pop because it cooks—that is the magic occurring. Push it too far and you will tip into bitterness, however get it proper and it is pure gold, so let your nostril information you and pull it off the warmth when you odor the faint nutty aroma.

In some Nigerian kitchens, that prized backside layer, or backside pot—typically known as “the prepare dinner’s reward”—is particularly prized. Typically, we scrape it up, mixing some into the fluffy rice for taste whereas sneaking a number of crunchy bits for ourselves. Keep away from nonstick pots for this; direct contact with the warmth works finest to create the char. A heavy-bottomed chrome steel or enameled forged iron pot works finest. The reward is rice that is fluffy but smoky, with a backside crust that is as prized because the get together itself.

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