Jollof Rice with Plantain Chips~ A vegetarian rice dish of Ghana

Ghana is a West African Country, it is thought to be the closest country to the centre of the Earth. It is located North of the Equator which means that it has a warm tropical climate. Until a few months ago I did not know much about Ghana, but my interest grew when my daughter decided to go on a trip to Ghana with Vision Aid oversees to do voluntary work to provide free eye care for the less privileged.

As a parent to alleviate any worries, I started to research about the safety, climate, food etc in Ghana. To my surprise I really started to enjoy learning about the culture and food, especially as many of the ingredients such as plantain, cassava, chillies, yam were foods I am familiar with since I have lived in East Africa in my childhood.The typical Ghanaian staple foods in Ghana include cassava and plantain, millet and sorghum. Vegetables such as Yam, maize and beans, Sweet potatoes and coco yam are regularly used in Ghanaian  cuisine.

Since we follow a vegetarian diet, we researched what vegetarian dishes would be available in Ghana, we were pleasantly surprised to read that there were a fairly good selection such as Jollof Rice (spicy vegetable rice), Kelewele ( a fried spicy savoury dish made from plantain), Gari Foto (A grain made from fermented cassava flour cooked with tomatoes and vegetable and Watchi (blackeyed peas with rice. )I have been recreating some of these recipes in my kitchen and I must say we are really enjoying the Ghanaian flavours.

One of our family favourites  is the Jollof Rice, in Ghana you an get both a non vegetarian version and also vegetarian version. Below you can check out my vegetarian version.

I made my Jollof rice in my Redmond Multi Cooker, which is my new kitchen friend. Simple and easy to use with many pre programmes it makes cooking quick and easy. If you don't have a multi cooker you can make the rice on the stove top too.

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Vegetarian Jollof Rice with Plantain Chips

by Nayna Kanabar November-15-2016

Spicy vegetarian rice cooked with tomatoes and vegetables.

Ingredients:

• 250 g Basmati Rice
• 1 Medium white Onion peeled and thinly sliced
• 40 g Frozen Peas
• 1 Medium Carrot coarsely grated
• 1/2 of each colour Capsicum red/ yellow cut into strips
• 250 g Passata sieved tomatoes
• 1 Red chilli finely chopped
• 1.5 teaspoons Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Chilli Powder
• 1/4 teaspoon Turmeric
• 1 tablespoon Olive oil
• 300 ml Water

Plantain Chips

• 2 Plantain peeled and sliced into 2 mm thickness
• 600 ml Sunflower oil for deep frying
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1/4 teaspoon Red chilli powder

Method:

1.Wash the rice in a few changes of water, drain and keep aside.2. In the Redmond multi cooker add the olive oil and set the multi cooker on Fry option. Add the onions and cook them for 3-4 minutes, once onions are translucent add the grated carrot and capsicums and cook for another 3-4 minutes. Cook with lid open.

3. Cancel the fry option and set the programme on pilaf option. Add the rice, peas, salt, chilli powder, red chilli, turmeric, tomato passata and water. Stir.

4. Close the lid and cook the rice on pilaf option for 25 minutes.5. After 25 minutes open the cooker lid and fluff up the rice with a fork.

6. Heat the oil in a large wok and when its hot fry the sliced plantain in small batches until crisp and golden brown

7. Drain the fried plantain on kitchen paper and fry the remaining.8. Sprinkle salt and chilli powder on the fried plantain.9. Transfer the rice to serving dishes and garnish with fried plantain.

Details

Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 25 mins Total time: 30 mins Yield: Serves 4

The square brown wooden dish that the fried plantain chips are served in the photo above and the carved wooden African dish together with the elephant coasters which the rice is served in in the photo below are my recent purchases from Homesense. Homesense is a haven for beautiful kitchenware. The beauty of the shop is that you can find all sorts of serving dishes and kitchen ware that are regional and also from Europe, Africa, and Asia. These wooden dishes are a wonderful find as were the coasters.

This recipe is in collaboration with Redmond and Homesense.