What is one food Nigerians can go to war for? There is a high chance you thought about Jollof rice.
The good-hearted Jollof wars on social media between Nigerians and Ghanaians prove that Nigerians love their Jollof rice.
Although it is not only popular in these countries; Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Cameroon all cook their variations of this meal.
How is it prepared? Jollof rice is made from rice, tomatoes, pepper, curry, theme, garlic, scent leaf, stock water and other seasonings.
The sauce (peppers, onions, and tomatoes) is fried, stock water is poured into the sauce and finally, the rice and a little more water is put into the pot to cook.
Everyone has their peculiar recipe for the preparing Jollof rice. Some people use palm kernel oil instead of vegetable oil.
Its history according to BBC is traced to the Wolof empire, "The origins of Jollof rice can be traced to the 1300s in the ancient Wolof Empire (also called the Jolof Empire), which spanned parts of today's Senegal, The Gambia and Mauritania.
Rice farming flourished in this region, and Jollof began life as a dish called thieboudienne, prepared with rice, fish, shellfish and vegetables.
As the empire grew, the Wolof people dispersed across the region and settled in different parts of West Africa, taking their sumptuous rice dish with them."
No doubt Nigerians love Jollof rice and spare no expense to garnish with as much animal meat as possible. This meal can be eaten with Goat Meat, fried Beef, Fish, Prawns, fried or roasted Chicken, Turkey and even Cow skin known as ponmo.
On the side, there could be either Salad, Moimoi, or Plantain or it is mixed with Fried Rice.
This meal is served at every party, birthday, wedding, burial or just a couple of friends hanging out.
Most people believe that ‘party Jollof' is sweeter because it is cooked over the firewood.
There is a popular myth surrounding Jollof rice that the ones served at burials are sweeter than on any other occasion.
This meal has become the major food eaten by every Nigerian, it is the go-to meal when cooking at home and when ordering out.
Is it possible that Nigerian have made their palette boring by restricting themselves to this meal and this meal alone? It appears that some people love it so much they can eat it every day of the week.
I did a poll on Twitter just to find out if jollof rice is overrated. Here are the results.
Twitter poll on if Jollof rice is overrated
It appears that Jollof rice might be Nigeria’s national food irrespective of tribe, though a few people might think it is overrated.
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