Ingredients

Long-grain parboiled (inc. easy-cook or Golden Sella) rice

Tatashe/long red peppers

Plum tomatoes

Shombo (both green and red)

Red scotch bonnet peppers

One green bell pepper

Tomato paste (e.g., De Rica)

Fresh ginger

Margarine/cooking butter

Oil (groundnut, turkey, sunflower or vegetable)

Knorr cubes (chicken and regular/beef flavours)

Jumbo chicken and all-purpose seasoning (additional options for U.K. based Nigerians)

Beef

Goat meat

Duck

Three teaspoons of nutmeg

Black pepper

White pepper

Thyme

Brown and red onions

One teaspoon of curry powder

Bay leaves

Brown sugar

White sugar

Spring onions

Aluminium foil

Smoked sweet paprika (optional)

White Maggi (MSG)

Salt (ordinary)

Salt (cherry-smoked and apple-smoked, respectively - order off eBay/Amazon)

Lime juice

Steps

1. Wash the duck with lime juice and marinate with Knorr chicken cubes, thyme, brown and white sugar, one teaspoon of nutmeg, bay leaves, apple-smoked salt, white Maggi, a blended mixture of brown and spring onions and some oil. Marinate the beef with Knorr cubes (beef-flavoured), brown onions and cherry-smoked sea salt and the goat meat with all but the salt. Add some oil to the beef and goat meat marinades and leave all three to marinate for at least 15 minutes but preferably overnight (preferably up to 24 hours).

2. Transfer the goat meat to a pot, add enough water to cover the contents and leave to cook until done. When done, remove the goat meat, add the duck (along with more white Maggi) and cook till done. When the duck is done, remove it and add the beef. Leave to cook until done. Preserve the stock.

3. Heat up a fairly substantial amount of oil in a pot, add one brown onion and leave to burn. When burnt, discard it and lightly fry the meat. When done, transfer the meat to another container and be sure to remove as many traces of meat residue from the oil as possible.

4. Add some chopped brown onions to the oil alongside bay leaves, curry powder and the remaining nutmeg and leave to caramelise slightly.

5. De-stalk and de-seed the tatashe, shombo, red onions, one half of the green bell pepper, ginger and plum tomatoes (if using fresh). Boil them in salt water for five minutes (after washing them thoroughly). Line an oven tray with aluminium foil and marinate the fruits with white Maggi, all-purpose seasoning (optional) and black pepper, until slightly charred. Blend them.

6. Mix the tomato paste with enough water to bring it to a stew-like consistency (neither too thick nor too watery).

7. Combine with the blended “toma.-pep.” (tomato-pepper mixture), add to the oil and fry on very low heat until you start to see the following three markers: a.) the stew is separated from the oil, b.) streaks of oil form in the stew and c.) the tangy taste of the tomatoes has gone. Pour out the excess oil or reserve it for future cooking.

8. Scoop out between one-third and half of the stew and store it in another container.

9. Wash the rice thoroughly with cold-lukewarm water until the white starch visibly disappears and the water runs completely clear. Transfer to a sieve, drain out all the traces of water and mix with the stew. Add enough meat stock to cover the contents of the rice, along with the sweet smoked paprika (if using). If there isn’t enough stock to do this, top it up with water. Add at least a touch of salt in either case.

10. Let the contents of the pot boil and reduce the heat to medium-low (aka 2 or 3 out of 6).

11. Once the rice has absorbed all the water (it won’t be completely cooked at this point), add margarine/cooking butter and white pepper. Don’t stir but do reduce the heat to the very lowest.

12. Once the rice is cooked, chop the other half of the green bell pepper and then stir.

13. Transfer to another pot (so the residual heat in the initial cooking pot doesn’t overcook the chopped green pepper) and leave to cool down for at least five minutes.

[Serve with the meat/other jollof rice side-dishes (e.g., fried plantains, coleslaw/Nigerian salad, moi.-moi.).]

Tips and Elaborations

1. Stir very well in step 9 to incorporate the rice with the stew and stock but don’t stir between then and step 12.

2. Only use a wooden spoon in the cooking of the jollof rice.

3. The decision to parboil (a) or not to parboil (b) divides the ‘jollof-cooking community’ into two camps. I’m team A for the following reasons: 1.) most of the excess starch can be eliminated by simply washing the rice in lukewarm-cold water, making parboiling unnecessary and 2.) not parboiling eliminates the risk of soggy/overly-moist jollof rice (so far as the liquid-to-rice ratio is kept relatively even in the cooking of the rice - this step is very important). If you must parboil (not recommended for this take on jollof rice), do it for 5 to 7 minutes on medium heat after the water boils, or until you can literally only just break a grain of rice with your fingernail (remembering to cool it to kill the cooking process immediately afterwards).

4. We (Igbos) have a tendency to cook jollof rice with crayfish but that’s not ideal for party jollof rice. Blend a teaspoon of it with the tatashe, etc., if you really can’t part with it but I’d advise against it in any case as far as this take on jollof rice is concerned.

5. Baking sheets can be used as an alternative to aluminium foil for those concerned about the health risks engendered in the latter.

6. Chicken may be added as a type of meat but ensure it’s the female variety (hen/”hard chicken”). The softer version (rooster/cockerel) doesn’t produce stock as tasty as far as stews and jollof rice are concerned.

7. Feel free to incorporate fresh garlic somewhere along the way if that’s the way you want it but I wouldn’t recommend doing this when cooking on a larger scale (not everyone appreciates the aroma and taste of garlic).

8. Red food colouring (the powdered type obtainable in African food shops for diasporic Nigerians) may also be added. Do this when mixing the rice with the stock and stew.

9. Rosemary wouldn’t be a bad augment with any other recipe but this one already has bay leaves as an ingredient (using both is redundant).

10. There’s a difference between bottom-pot-burnt and smoky jollof rice. Bottom-pot-burnt rice for what it is is actually nice but try to avoid going too far in burning the bottom of the pot trying to recreate the latter. If you want your rice to have an additional smoky flavour, heat up some wood charcoal on a stove until it greys/reddens. Place it in a bowl, add butter or oil and place it in the rice until the ensuing smoke fades out (I recommend doing this with a small quantity of the jollof rice so that the wood charcoal smoke doesn’t ruin the rest of the rice if the smoke produced doesn’t give off the desired flavouring effect).

11. Smoked sweet paprika can help with both the redness and smokiness of the rice but other variations of this seasoning tend to have a ‘bitter’ flavour unconducive to jollof rice. Only use sweet smoked paprika.

12. As an alternative for red food colouring, combine a dash of turmeric with a very small amount of baking soda (this combination produces a red colour) and use it to colour the rice. Easy on the baking soda as any more than a teaspoon is enough to change the taste of the stew at least to something unpalatable.

13. Green bell peppers also have a tendency to make jollof rice bitter so only use half of one for the stew even if you’d rather not use the other half as a garnish. Nutmeg also has a tendency to change the taste of rice for the worse when too much is added so go easy (no more than one tablespoon).

14. Diced carrots are also a good (but by no means compulsory) augment to jollof rice and should be added at stage 9 if using. Other vegetables and garnishes that can be used include mixed sweetcorn and peas, sliced red (or brown) onions and fresh tomatoes.

15. The sight of fried red onions in stews and jollof rice can be unappetising so I recommend using red onions for blending and garnish and only the brown variety of onions for chopping/frying directly.

16. Boiling the fresh stew ingredients (ginger, tatashe, etc.) before blending them unlocks a certain flavour in them and roasting adds a certain smokiness, as well as eliminating the need to boil the purée before frying.

17. Palm oil wouldn’t be the worst addition to this meal. Add it (no more than one cooking spoon, ideally much less) at step 9 if using it.

18. Curry powder (and turmeric) can reduce the redness of jollof rice so don't use more than one or two teaspoons of either overall (if using turmeric).

That’s how one of mine came out when I followed that recipe. Garnished with red onions but that’s neither here nor there as far as this recipe is concerned.

Feel free to ask questions.

I've just edited the recipe. It's quite complex so follow at your own discretion.