Native Jollof Rice – Iwuk Edesi

This Native Jollof Rice recipe has been a long time coming. For every time  i tried to write a post on it, it always got bumped for another dish. Believe it or not I have been trying to write this particular post since 2010. Finally 3 years later, here we are and probably better than when I would have first written it. This dish was probably one of the first things I learned to cook. Our house-help at the time was a huge fan of this dish and she taught me quickly to make it. There are many variations to this dish. Many people like to add smoked fish and make it very traditional with the protein content. You can go that route or just plain fried chicken. Without further ado, I present to you Native Jollof Rice or as my Efik people call it Iwuk Edesi or as my brother calls it; Palm oil rice.

Recipe for Native Jollof Rice

Ingredients

2 cups Rice

2 cooking spoons of Palm oil (Moderate if you are watching your weight)

1 medium sized Smoked Fish (optional)

1 cup Dried Shrimp (optional) / 1 tablespoon of crayfish powder

1 Medium bulb of Onions

2 medium tomatoes

1 red bell pepper

2 scotch bonnet peppers

1/2 small bunch of spinach

A handful of chopped scent leaves

Seasoning

Salt

Method

Wash the rice and parboil. (This means boil for a short time and it shouldn’t be completely soft)

Blend your tomatoes and peppers and boil to remove excess water.

Chop your onions and vegetables and set aside.

Heat up the palm oil and fry the onions and blended pepper mix.

Season with salt and any seasoning of your choice. You could also use leftover stock to season it if you have.

Add your rice to the pot and stir. Reduce the burner to very low heat so the rice can cook properly. if you need to add a little water, you should but make sure it is very little so the rice isn’t soaking in water.

Wash the smoked fish and add to the pot of rice as it’s cooking along with the dried shrimps if you have or crayfish powder.

Once the rice is soft, increase the heat and add the chopped vegetables. Stir in and allow to simmer for one minute.

This dish is best served slightly warm not hot so the flavours really come out. Let me know if you try it out.