Hey everyone, in this latest instalment of my Food column, I’m going to tell you lovely people about a casual hangout I hosted not too long ago. What was the occasion you may be wondering? We’re alive and well – that’s it!
Though I made a variety of meals, I was especially proud of my jollof rice – because it was my first time trying a different method – I’ll tell you all about it shortly!
Right! So the menu included:
Looks like a lot, but with music in the background, and happy vibes, I barely notice it!hahaha
The Jollof Rice
Prior to this day, I normally make my jollof in two pots, it can be cumbersome but that was how I learnt it – but because I needed to make a relatively large amount, I was tasked with finding a way to make it all in one pot – luckily for me, my babe Naphy had very recently posted a few clips of her jollof rice method so I got some inspiration and gave it a go:
Ingredients:
Long grain rice (about 5 cups)
Tinned Plum tomatoes (2)
Two big onions
4 Bell Peppers (tatashe)
4 scotch bonnets (adjust based on how much heat you like, this gave it a moderate kick)
Two fresh tomatoes
Raw Chicken (to make your stock)
Spices: Thyme, all-purpose, curry, maggi cubes, knorr cubes, chilli powder (measurements was based on feelings , I’ll try to start measuring more accurately in future recipes)
Vegetable Oil
Method:
1.Blend your vegetables into a pepper/tomato/onion paste
2.Heat up your vegetable oil till hot/smoking (prepare for impact)
3.Carefully pour your blend into the hot oil and allow to fry thoroughly to form your base
4.Season the base and allow to continue cooking, you’re waiting for it to be completely cooked, you’d know this when you see the oil rise to the top and form bubbles.
5.On the side, wash your rice numerously to rinse off the excess starch, then allow it to soak in hot water for 10 minutes.
6.On another side haha, peel the skin off your chicken, wash and season in thyme, all-purpose and knorr & maggi cubes, and in a pot of water that’s only enough to cover the base of the pot, allow to boil thoroughly.
7.Back to the pepper base, once cooked well, strain the hot water from the rice and mix the uncooked rice (yes, this was the big change for me) into the pepper base.
8.Once the chicken is thoroughly boiled, remove and pour the chicken stock into the rice & pepper mix.
9.Cover with aluminium foil to allow the rice to soak up the base and cook thoroughly for about 20 minutes.
10.Voila! Perfect jollof rice, with each individual grain infused with deliciously spiced pepper. 11. I don’t quite fancy boiled chicken alone so I went ahead to oven cook it in barbecue sauce.
Mango glazed & Barbecue Wings
So these wings had the same base, but were glazed differently – let’s find out how shall we?
Ingredients:
Chicken Wings
Mango Chutney
Honey
Vegetable oil
All-purpose flour
Cornflour
Thyme, chilli powder, white pepper
Barbecue seasoning
Scotch bonnet peppers
Diced onion
Garlic & Ginger paste
Method:
1.Clean the wings and garnish with seasoning, peppers and onions. Allow to marinate for at least 20 minutes.
2.On a plate, fill it with a base of all-purpose flour and cornflour seasoned with thyme, chilli powder and white pepper. Put vegetable oil in a deep pan and place it on high-heat.
3.Take the chicken wings and completely cover it with the flour mixture before dipping into the hot oil and allow it to deep fry. Repeat for all wings.
Mango wings
1.Chop peppers, onions into a pan of hot oil and add some garlic & ginger paste par number of wings. Pour in mango chutney and allow to fry on low heat.
2.Add Chicken wings into the pan and allow to fry in the mix, ensuring the mango mix covers the wings.
3.Drizzle with honey and serve!
BBQ Wings
1.Glaze the deep fried wings with barbecue seasoning and allow to soak in it in a cooking bag for 15 minutes
2.Pop it in the grill for a further 15 minutes
3.Voila! Deep fried BBQ wings
I know there are still other foods on the menu, but this is already a pretty long post so I will postpone the recipes for those till another post! Below is the tiktok showing the different parts of the meal prep and the final product!
In other news, my guests were such amiable people, my sister, as the professional photographer she is, decided to have a photoshoot for a couple of them – have a look!
I hope you enjoyed this post!
Till next time,
Dr. ETP xo
