I’m obviously not talking about the standard party/parry-ish jollof and chicken but jollof rice made with more earthy ingredients (beef, goat meat, turkey, palm oil, dried tatashe, etc.). Is it okay to add ehu. to that sort of jollof rice or will it change the taste to something else entirely?

.

Na pepper soup you wan cook or rice?

If you want it to have that local flavor, just add efirin with enough crayfish and the original native black fish. You're good to go.

Ehuru will not really do much. It's better in soups.

Mercychen:
Na pepper soup you wan cook or rice?

I heard ehuru has a place in certain types of jollof. The type cooked with turkey/goat meat more specifically. Not to talk of palm-oil/concoction jellof.

Probz:


I heard ehuru has a place in certain types of jollof. The type cooked with turkey/goat meat more specifically. Not bad to talk of palm-oil/concoction jellof.

If you're bent on having that pepper soup flavor, I'll suggest you use uziza seed. It has a stronger flavor than ehuru.

Mercychen:


If you're bent on having that pepper soup flavor, I'll suggest you use uziza seed. It has a stronger flavor than ehuru.

I’m not really looking for the rice to have a strong pepper soup flavour. I never said that. Ever.

I just wasn’t sure if ehuru was a good ingredient for the type of jollof/jellof rice I’m talking about (either concoction rice or more typical jollof that’s also cooked with palm oil or at least earthy/non-chicken meats - aka turkey/goat meat). Some people even use ehuru in baking and I doubt those people have the intention of turning their banana bread or kpuff-kpuff to Point & Kill.

Ehuru might be most associated with pepper soup but I really don’t think it’s the only food you can use it to cook with.

Moreover a lot of people cook jollof with other soup-like ingredients (crayfish is the prime example) but those people still have the intent of cooking jollof (or at least jellof) rice, not pepper soup and not ofe egusi. Curry and thyme aren’t the only ingredients you can use to season rice surely.

Probz:
Moreover a lot of people cook jollof with other soup-like ingredients (crayfish is the prime example) but those people still have the intent of cooking jollof (or at least jellof) rice, not pepper soup and not ofe egusi. Curry and thyme aren’t the only ingredients you can use to season rice surely.

True. You can try it and let us know how it goes. New recipes are created everyday.

pocohantas:


True. You can try it and let us know how it goes. New recipes are created everyday.

Will do, dear.

Probz:
I’m obviously not talking about the standard party jollof and chicken but jollof rice made with more earthy ingredients (beef, goat meat, turkey, palm oil, dried tatashe, etc.). Is it okay to add ehu. to that sort of jollof rice or will it change the taste to something else entirely?

What you're going for is not jollof rice, but native rice - it can also be called village rice - which has its own distinct flavour.
It doesn't have to, neither does it need to compete with jollof rice.
For your ingredients, you'd want to go for dried spices, including crayfish and dried fish, then finish off with basil leaves (nchuanwu).

People cook stews with nutmeg, also seen people cook jollof rice with nutmeg(just before adding bayleaf to the fried stew base), gives it this aroma, not sure it's the roasted ground ehuru kind though.. I know you want to go all out for your native jollof but ehuru may alter the taste, could be in a way you'll like it so maybe try it out orrr keep it simple with your palm oil, onions, fresh/dried pepper, ground crayfish, smoked fish & any other proteins you'll love to add, scent leaves, salt and then bullion cubes if you like.

By the way, here’s the recipe I’m using for this particular take on jollof rice: (I can’t be bothered to list exact measurements so just tailor the quantities of all these ingredients to your needs)

Torotoro (turkey), goat meat and (optional) beef
Knorr cubes (regular beef flavour, not chicken)
Ehuru
Fresh plum tomatoes
Onions (ideally white for frying/caramelising, red for blending)
Tomato paste
Red tatashe peppers
Scotch bonnet peppers (red or, for the more local, yellow)
Plantain leaves
Ground Cameroon pepper (ground ose Nsukka/Cameroon)
Pot and pan (the pot can be aluminium, cast-iron, stainless-steel or even non-stick but it’s definitely better if the pan’s cast-iron)
Groundnut oil
Palm oil (preferably bleached)

Optional: goose (meat/carcass), goose fat, feet (of either cow or goose), goose/turkey giblets (neck, gizzard, etc.) and goose liver. Onion powder is also optional.

Steps

Optional

If you’re fortunate enough to get your hands on a goose carcass, roast the bones in the oven for 2 to 3 hours, coat them with very strong/thick tomato paste and put them in a pot (add water or beef stock, enough to cover the contents of the pot). Cook them for anywhere between 12 and 36 hours on the lowest possible heat.

If you’re just using goose meat, cook it before the turkey, et cetera, and fry the giblets in goose fat (to eventually be served either as a side-dish or applied topically to the rice) and make sure you brine your goose in water and (preferably kosher) salt before you get to cooking (this applies to turkey as well but I’ll touch on that in the main recipe).

Main

If you’re just proceeding as normal, marinate the meats with the Knorr cubes (make sure they’re not chicken-flavoured) and (in the case of beef/goat, ground Cameroon pepper) for no less than 15 minutes. Brine the turkey in saltwater for a bit.

Then add the meats to a pot and let them cook (maybe not all at the same time but you get the drift).

Remove the meat and fry at least some in groundnut oil (this oil will be used to fry the stew so it’d be better if the oil has a bit of flavour added) with an onion (preferably white). When it burns, take it out from the pot but don’t throw it away. Fry another onion on very low heat until it similarly burns. Remove the chunks of onion (you might want to slice this onion into big-ish slices so it’s less awkward to remove) but (again) don’t discard.

Wash, cut, de-seed and ‘de-membrane’ the tatashe and fresh tomatoes. Cut the red onions into big chunks. Boil them in the meat stock for some minutes before roasting them in the oven (if you have goose fat, apply it topically to the vegetables before they go in the oven) for 45 minutes to an hour, or until you start to see (a very moderate degree of) charring. Blend or grind alongside the burnt and caramelised onion with a mortar and pestle (if you want crayfish in this rice, now’s the time to add it).

Break the ehuru seeds open and toast them in a cast-iron pan (or any pan if you really can’t get ahold of a cast-iron one) for a few minutes. Grind with a dry mill or so.

Add an onion (or two onions) to the stew/caramelised-onion oil, add bleached palm oil (if you’re using it) and fry with the ground ehuru for a couple of minutes.

Mix some tomato paste (ideally one that isn’t as strong as what would’ve been used to coat the goose bones if you followed that step, so Gino and Tasty Tom would be good options) with water or a bit of stock. Add it alongside the toma.-pep. purée and fry until the stew sweetens (if you can’t tell when that’ll be, you have no business cooking jollof anyway).

Wash the rice with salt and cold water and (optionally) toast it in a cast-iron pan for two or three minutes (preferably with meat/goose fat).

Reserve some of the stew (you might not be needing all of it, at least not all at once), drain out some excess oil and mix the rice with the stew, adding stock afterwards to level-up (the rice should still be very hard to break with your fingernails, if at all possible, and the liquid:rice ratio shouldn’t be more than 3:2).

Use plantain leaves (or, in their absence, aluminium or parchment papers, or nothing sef since it’s not a must to have the lid bottom covered) to line the lid, let the contents of the pot come to a boil and then reduce the heat right away to low (if you have a gas burner, use 2 out of 6). Cook until done (and don’t be afraid to let it burn at the bottom because this is where flavour also comes from, no matter what some people say). If the rice isn’t completely cooked (or cooked to your satisfaction generally) by the time the water’s dried up, reduce the heat to the very lowest and keep steaming it until it is soft enough.

Line a plate with plantain leaves (if you can), add the rice and eat with meat and whatever other side-dishes you have in mind (steamed green vegetables are a good addition).

(You can also add runner beans to the mix. for this particular form of jollof rice.)

mariahAngel:


What you're going for is not jollof rice, but native rice - it can also be called village rice - which has its own distinct flavour.
It doesn't have to, neither does it need to compete with jollof rice.
For your ingredients, you'd want to go for dried spices, including crayfish and dried fish, then finish off with basil leaves (nchuanwu).

The thing is this jollof rice I have in mind is more like an amalgamation of the two types. It might not be as prototypical as the standard jollof-and-chicken/party type but it’s not intended to be flat-out concoction rice, either (otherwise I wouldn’t even be using turkey but cow meat/dried fish alone). It might be more akin to jellof than jollof but it’s not straight-up village concoction rice. Far from it.

Probz:


I heard ehuru has a place in certain types of jollof. The type cooked with turkey/goat meat more specifically. Not bad to talk of palm-oil/concoction jellof.

maybe u are mistaking the seed nut meg with ehuru(African nutmeg)... The seed nutmeg is used in baking and it also gives the jollof rice a nice taste and aroma while ehuru is used for native rice and other traditional dishes. U can get the the seed nutmeg at baking shops or those who sell spices #100 or little bit more.u just need to grate in little to get your desired taste.

mariahAngel:
What you're going for is not jollof rice, but native rice - it can also be called village rice - which has its own distinct flavour.
It doesn't have to, neither does it need to compete with jollof rice.
For your ingredients, you'd want to go for dried spices, including crayfish and dried fish, then finish off with basil leaves (nchuanwu).

Nchuanwu is not basil leaves at all.

And yes, you can spice your jollof rice using Nchuanwu in addition with Bayleaves.

Kobojunkie:
Nchuanwu is not basil leaves at all.

And yes, you can spice your jollof rice using Nchuanwu in addition with Bayleaves.

I reckon nchuanwu as Nigerian basil.
What do you think it should be called?
And, nchuanwu and bay leaves together in jollof? Won't that be like a clash of flavours?

Seriously, I don't know why I'm fond of you. Could be because you're odd...in a child-like way

If I may ask;
Are you Igbo?
Do you like to cook?

mariahAngel:
I reckon nchuanwu as Nigerian basil.
What do you think it should be called?

Seriously, I don't know why I'm fond of you. Could be because you're odd...in a child-like way

If I may ask;
Are you Igbo?
Do you like to cook?

It is called Efirin in Yoruba and Daidoya in Hausa, and in English it is called "scent leaves" which I think I think is a weird name for it.

I gave up on culture and tradition when I traded it in for Jesus Christ so I register with any idea that fits with what I currently have now. I don't necessarily like to cook but I love food.

Kobojunkie:
It is called Efirin in Yoruba and Daidoya in Hausa, and in English it is called "scent leaves" which I think I think is a weird name for it.

Yeah. I also think "scent leaves" is weird name for it.
The thing is, as Nigerians, we're usually quite creatively and intellectually lazy to come up with something as simple as a befitting name for a herb.
Carrying out research on the benefits the herb is out of the question.

I gave up on culture and tradition when I traded it in for Jesus Christ so I register with any idea that fits with what I currently have now. I don't necessarily like to cook but I love food.

OK. What did you identify as before you "traded" it?

Preciousppearl:
maybe u are mistaking the seed nut meg with ehuru(African nutmeg)... The seed nutmeg is used in baking and it also gives the jollof rice a nice taste and aroma while ehuru is used for native rice and other traditional dishes. U can get the the seed nutmeg at baking shops or those who sell spices #100 or little bit more.u just need to grate in little to get your desired taste.

Abeg, I’m not mistaking ehuru with normal nutmeg.

Why is it so hard for you people to understand that pepper soup isn’t the only food you can use CALABASH nutmeg for?

mariahAngel:


I reckon nchuanwu as Nigerian basil.
What do you think it should be called?
And, nchuanwu and bay leaves together in jollof? Won't that be like a clash of flavours?

Seriously, I don't know why I'm fond of you. Could be because you're odd...in a child-like way

If I may ask;
Are you Igbo?
Do you like to cook?

That person was obviously being sarcastic when they mentioned nchaunwu and bay leaves together.

mariahAngel:
Yeah. I also think "scent leaves" is weird name for it.
The thing is, as Nigerians, we're usually quite creatively and intellectually lazy to come up with something as simple as a befitting name for a herb.
Carrying out research on the benefits the herb is out of the question.
OK. What did you identify as before you "traded" it?

Culture and tradition never really made sense to before then. So, I happy when I realized that to follow God, I had to abandon any such.

Probz:
That person was obviously being sarcastic when they mentioned nchaunwu and bay leaves together.

No, I wasn't being sarcastic at all. I use bayleaves even in my beans and noodles. And i use Nchuanwu, which I purchased sometime ago labeled as oregano from the local store, the same way.

Probz:


That person was obviously being sarcastic when they mentioned nchaunwu and bay leaves together.

Errrrrrrr...no, he wasn't.

Kobojunkie:
No, I wasn't being sarcastic at all.

There.

Kobojunkie:
Culture and tradition never really made sense to before then. So, I happy when I realized that to follow God, I had to abandon any such.

OK.

Probz:


Abeg, I’m not mistaking ehuru with normal nutmeg.

Why is it so hard for you people to understand that pepper soup isn’t the only food you can use CALABASH nutmeg for?

I hope u read where I wrote it is used for native rice and other dishes..

Probz:


Abeg, I’m not mistaking ehuru with normal nutmeg.

Why is it so hard for you people to understand that pepper soup isn’t the only food you can use CALABASH nutmeg for?

And who are the you people?

I don't know Why you're still here arguing instead of trying it out and letting us know the outcome of the disastrous recipe.

Women are advising you on the right thing to do you're forming chief "shef".

Different spices for different food types. You can't say it can be used in all dishes. That would be like saying you can use cloves, ( kananfiri) in stew and soups.

Continue.

Mercychen:


And who are the you people?

I don't know Why you're still here arguing instead of trying it out and letting us know the outcome of the disastrous recipe.

Women are advising you on the right thing to do you're forming chief "shef".

Different spices for different food types. You can't say it can be used in all dishes. That would be like saying you can use cloves, ( kananfiri) in stew and soups.

Continue.

Gender has nothing to do with cooking ability when you’ve cooked and cooked for years and have lived in the civilised world. I actually am something of a chef so you can’t come and tell me that I don’t know anything about how to cook just because I’m male.

And if you deep Anambra and Enugu cuisine enough you’ll know that ehuru goes in all sorts. Even rice. Me starting this thread was in response to the uncertainty that a lot of people seem to have about using certain ‘local’ ingredients in certain forms of jollof/jellof rice but don’t think that because you haven’t heard of certain food additions means that it hasn’t ever been done.

Mercychen:


And who are the you people?

I don't know Why you're still here arguing instead of trying it out and letting us know the outcome of the disastrous recipe.

Women are advising you on the right thing to do you're forming chief "shef".

Different spices for different food types. You can't say it can be used in all dishes. That would be like saying you can use cloves, ( kananfiri) in stew and soups.

Continue.

I tried the recipe and it banged, by the way. What was so disastrous about it?

Mercychen:
And who are the you people?

I don't know Why you're still here arguing instead of trying it out and letting us know the outcome of the disastrous recipe.

Women are advising you on the right thing to do you're forming chief "shef".

Different spices for different food types. You can't say it can be used in all dishes. That would be like saying you can use cloves, ( kananfiri) in stew and soups.
Continue.

Gone are the days when we believed there were set rules on how and when to use certain spices and ingredients. These days, you can pretty much try any spice on any dish....you just need to be open to trying new things.

Probz:


Gender has nothing to do with cooking ability when you’ve cooked and cooked for years and have lived in the civilised world. I actually am something of a chef so you can’t come and tell me that I don’t know anything about how to cook just because I’m male.

And if you deep Anambra and Enugu cuisine enough you’ll know that ehuru goes in all sorts. Even rice. Me starting this thread was in response to the uncertainty that a lot of people seem to have about using certain ‘local’ ingredients in certain forms of jollof/jellof rice but don’t think that because you haven’t heard of certain food additions means that it hasn’t ever been done.

I'm not saying it hasn't been used. Of course people try new things every day. Some have even used sugar in soups.
so nothing new or impossible. Reason I said go and try it already.

Oh... You're a "shef". Hm. Now I see where the spirit of experimentation is coming from.

Probz:


I tried the recipe and it banged, by the way. What was so disastrous about it?

Ok. Good for you.
At least you can add that to your list of recipes now and make it your little secret flavor.

As for me, I can't and won't experiment with my pot of rice in this "Buharialized" regime with such a thing.

I'm out!