Chapter 24: Awọn igbesẹ mi si titobi (My steps to greatness)4

I woke up and did my regular mornin schedules while my mom did hers.

Friday?

Friday was my favorite day of the week because it is the gateway to Saturday which is my best day of the week.

My mom prepared my brunch in my little food basket and put some puff puff as snacks for me.

My mom's puff-puff is the most delicious.

This is how she makes hers:

Ingredients

3 milk Cups All-purpose Flour

2 to 1-1/5 Cup Water

2 Teaspoons Yeast

1 Teaspoon Nutmeg

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

Half Cup of Sugar

1 Cup Onion (Blended/Grated)

4 Whole ata rodo

Oil

Preparation

1. Blend or grate the Onion and pepper set aside.

2. Add all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl, mix together and set aside.

3. Add the blended Onion and Pepper. Begin to add water a little at a time while mixing the batter.

4. Once the batter is smooth and lump free, cover it up with a plastic wrap or a tight lid and leave it to rise for 1 hour.

5. Pre-heat the Oil to 350°F and scoop a little bit of dough, you can make it bigger or smaller if you wish and drop into the oil.

6. Fry both sides until golden brown.

Tada! magic right?

My mom is the best cook in the world.

Her cooking is so delicious that you can bite your tongue.

Through the nice aroma emitting from the outside kitchen, the message passed was that jollof rice was what she cooked for me.

This is how she prepares her delicious jollof rice:

4 Tablespoons of vegetable oil

1 Tbsp butter

4 Fresh tomatoes

1 poundedTomato paste

4 Red onions

2 Red bell peppers (tatashe)

crayfish

4 Habanero pepper (scotch bonnet)

4 1/2 cups of long-grain parboiled rice

2 cups of chicken stock

Spices:

Dadawa

salt

cayenne pepper and black pepper

white pepper

Bay leaves

curry powder

garlic or onion powder

ginger

thyme leaves

INSTRUCTIONS

Heat about 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil and butter in a medium-sized pot on medium heat and throw in some chopped red onions. Allow the onions to fry until the redness starts to slightly fade off.

Next, pour in your tomato paste and let it fry with the onions. Make sure to stir the paste consistently to avoid burning. Do this for about 10 mins, or until the paste fully fries in the oil. Add in your crayfish for an extra tasty flavor.

Blend some tomatoes, onions, habanero peppers, and red bell peppers together until you achieve a smooth consistency.

Pour in the blended mixture into the pot and fry it together with the tomato paste.

Add all your spices (BUT DON'T ADD SALT YET) and mix. Cover the pot and allow the tomato to fry in the oil. Add more oil if necessary. You really want to let the tomato fry to remove the slappy sour taste, so make sure you don't rush this process. I would recommend letting it fry for about 20-30 mins. Be sure to continuously stir the mixture to avoid burning.

At this point, while the tomato is frying, begin to wash your long grain parboiled rice. Make sure to get rid of as much starch as possible by washing the rice until the water used becomes very clear. This helps to avoid the rice from sticking together when cooking.

Once the tomato is done frying, add your chicken stock to the mix and taste to see if it requires any salt. Add salt if necessary and mix.

Now add in your washed rice (and a bit of water if necessary to cook the rice) and mix it together with the fried tomatoes. Turn down the heat to the lowest on your burner and cover the pot. I personally like to cover the pot with aluminum foil before putting on the lid just to make sure the heat stays within the pot without escaping from the lid hole.

Allow the rice to cook for about 30 minutes.

After about 30 minutes open the pot and properly combine all the ingredients together. Cover the pot again, and let it cook for an additional 10 minutes or until the rice has fully blended in with the mixture.

By the way, if you want the smokey taste of most party jollof rice popular in Nigeria, cooking on firewood, or using a stainless steel pot would give that extra flavor as well. Lol

. She has two methods to cook it. the former was firewood method and for the latter is the oven or hob method

Ingredients

4 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tbsp butter

14.5 pounded tomatoes paste

2 red bell peppers

6 tomato

3 large whole red onion

1 cup chopped red onion

1/4 cup blended crayfish

4 Habanero peppers (based on how spicy you want)

4 1/2 cups long grain parboiled rice

2 cups chicken stock

1 tbsp Dadawa

1 tbsp salt

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper and black pepper

1/2 tsp white pepper

3 single bay leaves

1/2 tbsp curry powder

1/2 tsp garlic/onion powder

1/2 tsp thyme

1/4 tsp ginger

Instructions

Blend tomatoes, red bell peppers, habanero peppers, large red onions until consistency is smooth and set aside

Wash the rice thoroughly to rid off starch and set aside.

To a medium-sized pot on medium heat, heat canola oil and butter

Throw in chopped onions and allow to fry for about 5 mins or until redness starts to fade

Pour in tomato paste and allow to fry for about 10-15 minutes, stirring continuously to avoid burning.

Add in your blended mixture, crayfish, dadawa, cayenne & black pepper, white pepper, bay leaves, curry powder, garlic, thyme. Mix and fry for about 30 minutes, continuously stirring to avoid burning.

Add chicken stock and salt. Mix and allow cook for an additional 10 mins

Add in washed rice and a bit of water (my mom rarely does it ), and reduce heat to low.

Cover pot with aluminum foil, to avoid heat from escaping through lid

Cook rice on low heat for about 30 mins

Once cooked, mix thoroughly to combine ingredients

Cover and let cook for an additional 10 mins.

To get the Jollof flavor, turn up the heat and let the rice burn for about 3 mins. (Be careful with this step, so you don't burn the whole rice)

For spices: Add as much or as little depending on your preference and taste choice.

the "firewood" taste, you can use foil, make a little cup on top of your rice & heat a piece of coal…pop that in your foil cup & close the lid…let it smoke a little & take the coil out, guarantee you will love that…you can also do this with all the other smoky dishes.

Then the dodo:

Ripe plantain

vegetable oil

salt.

Method

Dice the peeled plantain or can cut it into any shape you want

sprinkle a pinch of salt on it and mix it up

Steam the vegetable oil inside a deep pot

Then fry the salted plantain to deep brown color

Add it to your assorted jollof rice and enjoy the goodness of life.

My mom took me to school as usual and gave me a word of advice and left me on my own to fight my own battle.