Spicy Nigerian Jollof Rice

african rice with tomatoes and scotch bonnet

4.65 from 51 votes

Nigerian Jollof Rice – a spicy and vibrant one-pot tomato rice, which will become a family favorite in no time, this is probably the best-known Nigerian food recipe.

Prep Time10

Cook Time1

Total Time1 10

Course: Pasta and Rice

Cuisine: Nigerian, African

Servings:

Calories: 208kcal

Author: Adina

Ingredients

2 ¾ cups parboiled rice See note 1
4 medium tomatoes romana or plum tomatoes
1 large red bell pepper
1-2 red chilies or ½ -1 Scotch bonnet See note 2
4 tablespoons vegetable oil or palm oil, if available
1 larger onion
5 tablespoons tomato paste
3 cups vegetable broth or chicken stock
1 Maggi stock cube optional
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 teaspoons curry powder
¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
2 bay leaves
some smoked black ground pepper optional
salt

US - EU

Instructions

Blend tomatoes: Roughly chop the tomatoes, red bell pepper, and chili. Place them in the food processor and puree them until smooth. Alternatively, use an immersion blender.
Cook tomatoes: Pour the puree into a saucepan, bring to a boil and cook for about 4-5 minutes or until slightly thickened.
Chop the onion.
Cook sauce: Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed pan or non-stick pan. Fry onion until a bit softer, about 3 minutes.
Add the tomato-pepper puree and simmer, often stirring, for about 10 minutes.
Add the tomato paste, stir very well and let simmer for another 4-5 minutes, until the sauce has thickened. Remove about ¼ of the sauce and set it aside.
Cook rice: Pour the vegetable or chicken stock in the pot. Crumble in the Maggi stock cube and stir well to dissolve. Bring to a boil. Add the washed rice, thyme, curry, smoked paprika, bay leaves, and salt to taste when the stock is boiling. Stir well, turn the heat down to medium-low and cover the pot.
Cook until the rice is almost dry and cooked through. Don't worry if the rice catches slightly at the bottom of the pan; that is the desired effect, as long as it doesn't burn completely.
Add the remaining tomato sauce and stir very gently without breaking the crusty rice layer at the bottom of the pot. Add some smoked or regular ground black pepper and salt to adjust the taste.
Serve as suggested above.

Video

Notes

You can buy parboiled rice or parboil regular rice yourself.
Scotch bonnet is the kind of chili customarily used for making Jollof rice. Replace it with regular chilies if you cannot find it. Adjust the chili amount according to your heat tolerance, and keep in mind that Scotch bonnet is really hot.

Nutrition