Thursday, March 28, 2024

In The Kitchen With Kanta : Spicy Tomato Rice (Jollof Rice) with tender and juicy Pork chops

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Growing up in the UK I had a lot of Nigerian friends; and whenever I would go over to their homes I was sure to be fed Jollof rice. Jollof rice, as I’m sure a lot of you know, is a dish found throughout West Africa. Ask any Nigerian or Ghanaian and they will tell you exactly what it is. Now coming from Zambia, and having been raised on mild food; I found Jollof rice really hard to eat. Nevertheless, I would soldier on and eat the mounds and mounds of Jollof stacked on my plate, because my mother always told me it was rude not to finish my food. Never wanting to seem rude, ungrateful or wasteful I would gulp down fork–fulls of the hot rice and wipe away tears induced by the flames in my mouth. The fact is Jollof rice is very hot and spicy, however; if you can get past the stinging sensation on your tongue, you will realise that it tastes amazing. Never one to accept defeat in the food department I was determined to develop my own, slightly less lethal version of Jollof. So today’s recipe is my very own Spicy Tomato Rice also known as Jollof rice; with juicy pork chops.

Some of you might be wondering why I have decided to use pork…..well…because I like pork; but fear not, if you cannot eat pork for whatever reason; be it religious or dietary beliefs and requirements then you can easily replace it with Chicken or beef, or you can actually eat this rice on its own. Another way to eat it is with fried Plantain (if available where you live).

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 45 minutes

Serves: 4 people

Ingredients

For the rice
Vegetable oil
4 onions, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
½ –1 scotch bonnet chilli, deseeded and chopped (these are very hot, so try ½ for a milder flavour, or if you are feeling brave use a whole one)
2 tbsp tomato purée
500g tomatoes, chopped
750ml chicken stock
500g long grain rice
For the pork chops

4 pork chops

Vegetable oil

3 tsp ground sea salt

2 tsp ground white pepper

2 tsp paprika

2 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp all purpose seasoning

 

 

Scotch Bonnet Chillies

Jollof and pork 5

Method

 

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4.

 

In a bowl, rub the pork chops with a bit of oil and the seasoning; white pepper, paprika, garlic powder, all purpose seasoning and sea salt.

 

On a frying pan, fry the pork chops for 1 minute. Place the pan and the pork chops in the oven, if the pan is not oven proof- transfer them onto a baking tray; and let them cook for about 10 minutes, depending on the thickness of the chops or until cooked through (keep a close eye on them, and check every minute after 6 minutes).

In a saucepan add a splash of oil and fry the onions, garlic and chilli over a low heat for 10 minutes. Stir in the tomato purée and chopped tomatoes, and then pour in the chicken stock. Bring it to the boil, reduce the heat to low and let it simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in the rice, cover with the lid and let it bubble away for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, and adding water if it gets too dry. Finally, stir in the cooking juices from the roasting pan. Mix well, squashing the tomatoes into the rice.

Serving

Serve this colourful and flavoursome rice with the juicy pork chops on top.

 

tips

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Kanta Temba is a cake maker and decorator. She is also the owner and founder of Kanta Kakes – cake shop.

You can find her work on www.kantakakes.com.  Follow her on twitter @KantaKakes and Instagram @KantaTemba.

Baking with Kanta - IMG

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