you’ll be inspired to make this after reading Americanah
Parts of Americanah, a novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, are set in Lagos, Nigeria. Africa is described as hot, and the people eat foods that are both hot in temperature and spice. Interestingly, many cultures in hot climates eat hot foods. Why? The reasoning is actually pretty intuitive: eating spicy food makes you sweat, and sweating makes you cool down faster than if you eat cold food. Also, hot climate makes food spoil faster, and spices have anti-microbial properties that combat spoiling.
Jollof rice is known as a celebration rice, which makes sense to me now because the recipe I followed made so much rice! I didn’t use parboiled rice that is classic in Africa, but the basmati worked out well and took on the beautiful color from the obe ata, which is the tomato-bell pepper sauce. Yewande Komolafe from NYT Cooking explained that obe ata is a universal sauce that is added to most Nigerian foods. In her recipe, she used a habanero, but I used several Thai chilis instead, which seemed to work well.
Obe ata reminded me of ratatouille sauce a little bit, with the exception of the pepper and the reduction. I don’t really like bell peppers, but since the sauce was cooked down and there was a lot of heat from the chilis, the bell pepper taste was imperceptible. Komolafe’s recipe calls to reserve some of the cooked onions to mix in later, and I really appreciated this step. The pink onions bring a brilliant contrast the the beautiful golden orange rice, as well as a sweet taste.
Ingredients:
- 14 oz whole peeled tomatoes plus juice
- 1 red bell pepper, rough chopped
- 1/2 red onion, rough chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled
- 1 inch ginger, finely chopped
- 5 Thai chilis, stemmed
- 2 tbsp canola oil
- 1/2 cup canola oil
- 1 1/2 red onions, thinly sliced
- 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1/4 tsp paprika
- 3 cups basmati
- 5 fresh thyme sprigs
- 1 bay leaf
- Salt, pepper to taste
- 2 cups stock
Directions:
- For the obe ata, blend tomatoes, bell pepper, onion, garlic, ginger, and chilis. Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a Dutch oven, then pour in the puree.
- Simmer until reduced to 2 cups, about 20 minutes. (Keep the lid mostly on to avoid splashing!)
- Transfer the obe ata to a separate bowl, emptying the Dutch oven.
- Heat 1/2 cup oil in the Dutch oven, add onions. Cook for 8 minutes until softened, then reserve half.
- Add spices to the pot, then stir in obe ata sauce.
- Stir in rice, thyme, bay leaf, and salt and pepper to taste.
- Stir in stock, then bake 35 minutes at 350F.
- Remove from oven and let it sit 15 minutes before serving. Enjoy!
