This blog post is on how to make a native version of jollof rice which is popularly called called palm oil rice or native jollof rice.

Jollof rice is a very popular rice dish not only in Nigeria but all over west Africa. In fact you would agree with me that on the internet, there is always a raging debate on the country that has the best jollof rice.

Although this recipe is not about the West African country that makes the best jollof rice, I believe Nigeria has the best jollof rice.

If you disagree, please state your reasons in the comment section.

But let’s go back to the main recipe of this post which is on how to cook palm oil rice.

Palm Oil Rice

Before vegetable oil became a popular cooking oil, red palm oil has always been the preferred cooking oil used in cooking many Nigerian foods and dishes,

Even though vegetable oil is now commonly used, some Nigerian dishes must be cooked with red palm oil so as to be able to achieve the unique taste that palm oil adds to cooking.

The same applies to palm oil rice, jollof rice cooked with palm oil always tastes differently from the popular jollof rice recipes which are cooked with vegetable oil.

To achieve the unique taste of Palm oil rice, some additional ingredients such as locust beans, crayfish powder, crayfish, ponmo are used for its cooking.

Also, this recipe is cooked with Nigerian short grain rice.

While vegetable oil is replaced with palm oil. All the ingredients needed for palm oil rice are listed below.

Ingredients for palm oil rice.

• 2 Panla fish (roasted hake fish)
• 2 cups rice (short grain Nigerian rice)
• ¼ cup Palm oil
• Tomato Paste
• 2 Dried Ponmo
• 2 seasoning cubes
• ¼ cup crayfish
• ¼ cup crayfish powder
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• 1 tablespoon thyme
• 3 medium sized onions
• 1 tablespoon Iru (locust beans)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon chilli pepper powder
• 5 tomatoes
• 2 shombo (cayenne peppers)
• 3 ata rodo (scotch bonnet peppers)

Please note that the outcome of the ingredients listed is a spicy palm oil rice.

But you may want to reduce the quantities of the peppers if you do not like spicy foods.

How to cook Palm oil rice – Procedure

• Put dried ponmo in a big bowl.
• Add a lot of water , cover the bowl and allow the ponmo soften for 8-12 hours.
• After 12 hours, clean the ponmo ijebu – Read more on Ponmo Ijebu | How To Clean Ponmo Ijebu here
• Slice one of the onions, tomatoes and soften ponmo separately into small pieces and set it aside.
• Clean the Panla fish in water only, remove the bones and set aside.
• Blend the tomatoes,onions, scotch bonnet and cayenne pepper and set aside.
• Wash rice with clean water.
• Place a pot of water on your cooker and add rice.
• Allow rice parboil for 10 minutes.
• Drain to separate the parboiled rice from the rice water.
• Dispose the rice water and set the parboiled rice aside.
• Place your on the cooker and add palm oil.
• Allow palm oil heat up briefly.
• Add half of the sliced onions and fry for 1-2 minutes.
• Then add the deboned Panla fish and Iru.
• Mix well and fry for 1-2 minutes on high heat.
• Add crayfish, crayfish powder, curry, thyme, salt, chilli pepper powder, blended tomatoes and pepper mix.
• Also add the tomatoes paste, sliced ponmo and seasoning cubes.
• Mix well, cover the pot and cook for 5-7minutes on medium heat.
• After 7 minutes mix the sauce to avoid it getting burnt.
• Add 4 cups of water and mix again.
• Allow the mixture boil.
• Add the parboiled rice to the boiling mixture.
• Mix well and cook for 17 – 20 minutes on high heat.
• Add sliced onions and sliced tomatoes.
• With a spoon, gently lift the rice on the sides to allow the liquid on top to go down.
• Cook for 5 – 7minutes.
• Check if the liquid has dried by gently lifting the rice on the sides.
• If the liquid has dried, mix the rice properly.
• Palm oil Jollof Rice is ready.

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