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Smoky Prawn Jollof Rice

Smoky Prawn Jollof Rice is a traditional Nigerian recipe for a classic one-pot dish of rice and king prawns flavoured with spices, smoked and dried prawns and plenty of hot chillies. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Nigerian version of: Smoky Prawn Jollof Rice.

prep time

20 minutes

cook time

55 minutes

Total Time:

75 minutes

Serves:

6

Rating:

Tags : CurryChilli RecipesSpice RecipesNigeria Recipes

Jollof Rice is a true Nigerian national dish (though its origins seem to lie in Senegal with the Wolof; though the Efik and Ibibio might disagree) — but which jollof rice? My wife splits them generally into ‘red’ and ‘white’ with ‘quick’ versions. The flavouring and spicing tends to shift with family and region. Our jollof rices are adopting more Indian style flavours, as you can’t escape the influence of Durban here. This, however is an attempt at creating a purer semi-white jollof rice (not truly white in that tomatoes are used, but no tomato puree). The one concession I’m making to my restaurant background is that I’m using pre-cooked rather than raw rice. My wife looks don on this, but it means I can control cooking times, don’t over-cook the prawns and have better control of liquid levels. Normally I would use cold-smoked prawns. However, I used dried and smoked prawns (or crawfish as my wife calls them) which are also authentic. In this recipe use king prawns and peel them, but don’t discard the heads and peelings — these provide the flavour for the stock. Note that curry powder is used in Nigeria, but that is heavier on the turmeric than it is on the chilli reds. A medium Madras might be a good approximation. I think that’s why my wife loves Madras curry powders. She also loves dried thyme, chilli beef stock cubes, bayleaf, soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce, so I will invariably add these. We use the Ivorian scotch bonnet chillies from our garden — super hot but also super fruity. Nothing like them! The other secret of this recipe is to dry fry the rice at the end so it develops a burnt crusts that helps smoke the rice.

Ingredients:

16 king prawns, peeled (reserve heads and peelings)
6 cups cooked rice (3 cups raw rice) (don’t cook completely, only boil for 10 mins, drain away the liquid)
1 beef and chilli stock cube
2 onions, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
2 hot chillies, chopped (Scotch bonnet would be typical, but I used Carolina reaper)
1 tbsp curry powder
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp dried thyme
2 bayleaves
10 smoked and dried prawns blitzed in a coffee grinder
500ml (2 cups) fish stock

Method:

Heat a little oil in a small pan, add 2 tbsp onion and fry for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and prawn heads/shells. Fry for 3 minutes, until the shells are pink then crush in the stock cube. Add in 500ml (2 cups) hot fish stock and 250ml (1 cup) boiling water. Stir to combine then bring to a boil and stir until the stock cube dissolves). Take off the heat and blitz with a stick blender then strain the liquid through a fine-meshed cloth. Adjust the seasonings to taste and set aside.

Heat a little oil in a second pan. Add the onions and chillies and fry for 5 minutes. At this point add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes more. Stir in the curry powder and cook, stirring, for 1 minute before adding the tomatoes, dried prawns, soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 5 minutes, or until the tomatoes begin to break down. Add the dried thyme, pour into a jug and make up to 500ml (2 cups) with water.

To assemble the jollof rice, combine the prawn stock and vegetable base in a wok or deep frying pan. Stir in the rice and bring just to a simmer then nestle in the bayleaves. Reduce the heat to a low simmer, cover with a lid or with kitchen foil and cook gently for 20 minutes. Season your prawns then sit on top of the rice. Add more water if needed.

Cover and cook for 5 minutes. At this point the rice should be cooked. If not, continue cooking for 5-10 minutes more. Now for the secret to a smoky finish. Increase the heat to high and allow the outer crust of rice to burn for 5 minutes.

Immediately take off the heat, discard the bayleaves, and serve.