Chicken, Pepper & Spinach 'Jollof' Rice

A spicy chicken and rice dish based on the classic west African 'jollof' rice.

Food blogging as we know it (in a nutshell) is a melange of gorgeous food photography, captivating writing style and quality content i.e. your recipes work, those are all key to keep people coming back. Yes I know all those things, yet fail on most accounts because I want to be true to who I am. Inconsistent and indecisive spring to mind but let's forget that and focus on the one positive - honesty, I hope to always be honest with the content I provide. Not all my recipes are life changingly delicious that will make you never want another recipe again....BUT they put a smile on my face, sometimes my family members and maybe yours too?!

Yesterday evening I scurried around the Kitchen to find all the components for this recipe. The whole idea of making jollof rice was initially recommended to me by a sister on Instagram and this particular one is based on the original but not truly authentic.  

Jollof rice, also called Benachin, meaning "one pot" in the Wolof language, is a popular dish in many parts of West Africa. It is thought to have originated amongst members of the Wolof ethnic group in the Senegambia region; the historic name for the Wolof people and their empire being Jollof, but has since spread to the whole of West Africa, especially Nigeria, Togo, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Liberia. There are many variations of Jollof rice. The most common basic ingredients are rice, tomatoes and tomato paste, onion, salt, and red pepper. Beyond that, nearly any kind of meat, vegetable, or spice can be added. Wikipedia

I was out of one of the key components to this dish, tomato paste which gives the rice most of it's colour, which by the way I love, as well as intense tomato flavour. Never fear ketchup is here! but of course if you have tomato puree use that instead. 

Also I didn't have any eye popping scotch bonnets so used a mixed green chilli but red chilli is more authentic. For added heat I kept the white pith intact (not something i recommend you do with scotch bonnet) because if you didn't already know it's the white pith not the seeds which are the hottest part of any chilli. 

I was fairly impressed with this dish even if the reviews on the recipe source were saying it's not true to the classic, i tend to agree there was a lacking depth of flavour to the actual rice (my tomato paste to ketchup substitute won't have helped) but the chilli heat certainly came through nicely. These disputes about recipes are to be expected in the world we live in today everyone has there own take on a dish.

Please share 'the best' jollof rice recipe with me if you have it.

Not bad looking considering it's 12 hours old and re-heated!

Chicken, Pepper & Spinach 'Jollof' Rice

Recipe Source: Adapted from BBCGoodFood

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 1 hour 

Skill Level: Easy

Serves: 3

Ingredients

For Ginger Chilli Base

1 garlic clove

1 400 gram tin plum tomatoes 

thumb size piece of fresh ginger, peeled

1 mixed green chilli, stalk removed

200 grams halal boneless chicken thighs, cut into decent size chunks

1 ½ tablespoon sunflower oil

1 medium onion, halved and sliced

1 ½ tablespoon tomato paste

½ chicken or veg stock cube

1 green bell pepper, deseeded and sliced

100 grams baby spinach, washed

To Serve

small bunch of coriander, roughly chopped

Method

1. Make the ginger and chilli base. Put the garlic, tomatoes, ginger and chilli into a food processor or blender and whizz till smooth.
2. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a large deep frying pan over a high heat then add the meat and fry for about 5 mins till golden all over. Lift out of the pan onto a plate. Add the rest of the oil to the pan and fry the onions until soft but not golden, about 5 mins.
3. Add the tomato purée to the onions, fry for another 2 mins then add the ginger and chilli mix. Crumble in the stock cube, stir then pour in 300ml boiling water. Add the chicken, bring to the boil then simmer for 15 mins.
4. Rinse rice in a fine mesh sieve under cold water until water runs clear. Add rice to the pan, lightly stir and turn the heat down to a simmer then cover with foil (i used 2 sheets) and lid so steam can't escape then cook for 15 minutes.
5. Take the lid off (the rice won’t be cooked yet) then scatter the peppers and spinach over the rice. Re-cover and cook for 10 mins until the veg is softened and the rice tender. Just before serving, mix the veg through and scatter over coriander.

You may also be interested in Bahraini Chicken Machbous