JAMILA'S JOLLOF

"Easy girl, why have you been so grumpy today?" Peter asked his younger sister Jamila as she banged the door on her way out of the car not minding him one bit, "come here Jamila, I am talking to you" shouted Peter, but Jamila did not say a word as she moved swiftly to her bedroom. Jamila and her Family had just returned from a family friend's birthday party and everyone except Jamila was so excited at the party especially because there was a lot of catching up to do with friends and distant relatives who were also present.

No one could understand Jamila's mood swing, she was initially excited about the party but returned looking disappointed. she was not always like this, so dad decided to find out what was wrong with his little girl. "Jam-jam, my own baby girl, the last child of my noble clan, the crown that sits beautifully on my shiny bald head, talk to daddy, kilode (what is it)?" Dad always got away with whatever he wanted calling Jamila these names and more. "Who does a birthday party without the 'ALMIGHTY JOLLOF RICE' my favourite?" Jamila questioned with lots of tears in her eyes. "Oh dear, is that the problem? You don't have to be sad anymore, you know we don't have to wait for a party to satisfy our cravings, we can always make a pot full ourselves using my most delicious recipe, you will be the cook and I the instructor, agreed?" asked dad, "Oh yes, yes, agreed!!!" Jamila exclaimed happily.

"what we'll need includes..." continued Dad;
    4 cups of rice
    Water
    Some fresh Tomatoes
    Medium size tomato puree (Tin tomato)
    Two onion bulbs
    Fish/meat/chicken/Turkey
    Seasoning to taste
    Salt to taste
    Scotch bonnet ( fresh pepper) to taste
    1 Sweet pepper (Tatashe)
    All purpose seasoning (optional) to taste
    Black pepper (optional) to taste
    3 Bay leaves
    olive oil/vegetable oil/sunflower oil/ groundnut oil
    Ginger to taste
    Tyme and powdered curry
    Mixed veggies and prawns (optional)

"Jam-jam," dad called, "Would you like to consider these procedures in case of next time? It's worth knowing how to prepare your favourite. So let us begin."

Put some cups of rice in a pot, add water to it and allow to parboil. (The rice is parboiled when it starts foaming and bubbling. Note that some rice has a lot of sand in them especially the local rice, in this case, wash the rice thoroughly with water and sieve gently from the top repeatedly until the sand settled at the bottom is gotten rid of, after which the rice can be put into the pot to be parboiled).
Drain the hot water from the rice as soon as it has parboiled and wash with some ordinary water making sure that there is no sand underneath.
Keep the rice aside in a clean bowl.
Since Chicken is the desired for the meal, wash some portions of chicken and put them in a clean pot, add some seasoning cubes, blended pepper/onions/ginger, chopped onions, Tyme and powdered Curry.
Leave everything in number 4 to boil for a few minutes without adding water, checking it closely so that it doesn't get burnt.
Add some water to number 4 as soon as it produces its own stock and allow to boil for about 20 -30 minutes on high heat until it gets soft and cooked.
Chicken could be fried with some oil or grilled, if grilling with an oven works best, set the oven to 220 degrees and preheat for 5-7 minutes.
Place Chicken portions on an oven tray. (To avoid the burden of washing the tray, place a foil paper on the tray first before placing the chicken portions).
Grill for about 45 minutes flipping from side to side until golden brown.
Frying works better for others, in that case, add any of the aforementioned oil in a frying pan, leave to get hot on a medium heat, place the chicken portions in the pan and leave to fry flipping the pieces sides until each turns golden brown, this could take about 30 - 40 minutes
Set Chicken portions aside as soon as they are ready.
Blend fresh tomatoes, scotch bonnet, sweet pepper, onions, peeled and chopped ginger until they get smooth. (It is advisable not to add too much water while blending so that the mixture can get dry on time when frying.)
Add some oil in a pot and allow to heat (apply low heat to avoid bleaching).
Pour the blended mixture into the pot of oil and allow to boil. ( Note that some people boil the mixture to drain the water from it first before frying, I find this process not necessary as the mixture will always get dry in the process of frying).
Add some tomato puree (Tin tomato) to the mixture. This makes the stew thick and have a nice red colour.
Allow the mixture to get dry on a medium heat until the oil starts floating on the stew. It is advisable to add a lot of oil so that the stew will fry properly, excess oil can always be removed afterwards and stored for later use.
Chop some onions and pour it into the stew. (Note that some people prefer to fry the chopped onions from the beginning but be careful not to let it get burnt).
Add seasoning cubes and salt, to taste and leave the stew to boil a little.
Take out some stew from the pot if the stew is too much for the rice and set aside.
Pour some chicken stock to the stew to make it a little light. At this point, add some bay leaves, all-purpose seasoning and black pepper. ( It is advisable not to put more than 2-3 bay leaves for 4 cups of rice, too much bay leaves gives the food an unpleasant taste).
Pour parboiled rice to the stew making sure that the stew and stock mixture is only slightly above the rice, leave to boil still on medium heat. (It is advisable not to mix the rice so that it doesn't get burnt).
Add more stock through the sides of the pot gently if the rice is too hard.
Pour some more stew into the rice if it doesn't have a bright orange colour.
Garnish with sliced onions, mixed veggies and prawns and leave for a few minutes afterwhich you may now stir the rice.
Now serve with chicken portions and salad if desired.

When the rice was ready, ''Yummy!!!'' a tiny voice echoed from the dining table. Jamila was obviously having a swell time over her plate of Jollof rice, she would never have to cry over what she could now make herself. "Team work," said dad "oh yes! team work" Jamila replied with a high five.