If you have run out of fresh tomatoes, you can still cook tasty Jollof rice with tin tomatoes. Fresh tomatoes, like many perishables in Nigeria, are a seasonal offering, so they are scarce and expensive at various times during the year. Therefore, mastering how to cook jollof rice with tin tomatoes is a skill that will always come in handy.
How to cook jollof rice with tin tomatoes
Image: Unsplash
To remove the sour taste from tin tomatoes you have to fry the tomato properly or blend it with some pepper and onions. The onions work to neutralise some of that sourness. Let’s cook!
Ingredients
- Five cups rice
- 2 and 1/2 kg chicken
- 1 can tomato paste (300 grams) Might be excess after blending.
- 3 large-sized red onion
- 3 cups fresh rodo peppers (to taste)
- Oil for frying
- Enough seasoning cubes to add taste to the chicken while boiling
- 1 small yellow pepper
- A red bell pepper
- One green pepper
- 1 small clove garlic
- 2 teaspoons grated ginger
- ½ tablespoon dried thyme
- 2 teaspoons mixed spices
- ½ cup raw green peas
- 3 large carrots cleaned.
Image source: Noahalorwu / CC BY-SA
Directions
- Blend your tin tomato with some pepper and onions.
- Fry your chopped onion, red bell peppers, seasoning cubes, green bell peppers and yellow bell peppers in oil until they acquire fragrance.
- Then add the blended tomato paste and stir frequently until you notice a separation between the oil and the tomato.
- Add the chicken stock and stir, then check for taste and adjust if salt is needed.
- Add the washed rice and if the stock doesn’t bury the rice completely, add more water until it does. Then add thyme, Jollof spice and then drop in just one small bay leaf and bring the pot to a boil. When it begins to boil, reduce the heat and let the rice cook until it’s done.
- When the stock is completely dried, you can add your carrots and green peas, and then stir and cover to dry. This way the carrot and peas will be cooked enough for consumption.
This delightful dish can be served with moin-moin, fried plantain and chilled drinks.
Also read: No Eggs, Milk, Or Butter? Here Are Things You Can Still Bake
