My friend and blogger colleague 9jafoodie asked a question to her Instagram followers and the question was “what has your vote as the ultimate Nigerian dish?” And my answer was Palm oil rice.
Palm oil rice is even more delicious than Jollof rice. I know, I know; to you it may sound crazy to say that. But with Palm oil rice, the time frame for cooking is way easier than the regular Jollof rice.
This recipe, though Palm oil worthy, is a little different from the everyday Palm oil rice. It is a little similar to the Nigerian fried rice and it just fascinates me how similar but different our recipes are.
I have always wanted to show different ways of making Nigerian local recipes and I’m not a Le Cordon Bleu graduate, but I know there are so many ways to fuse or whip Nigerian dishes. I thought about ways to make this stir fry, but I shelved it. I didn’t know how to make it interesting without the use of dry prawns. I didn’t want to share a recipe that everyone expected. Until one day, I saw a photo with Jollof rice and all kinds of seafood on Instagram and I said to myself “you have to make your rice.”
The thing I enjoyed about this recipe was the addition of the spicy cooked snails. They were tender, full of flavor and spicy; having steamed them with a habanero pepper, garlic and onion. The snails are then steamed with the palm oil sauce and in doing that, they soak in the sauce so that when you bite into them, they melt right into your mouth with a kapow of different flavors! You can also make this dish into a vegan or vegetarian dish by simply taking out the meat or protein and using only vegetables or tofu.
Reading about it does no justice to this recipe. Making some is where it’s at!
- 3½ cups of rice
- 4 cups meat stock or water
- 1 small onion(cut into wedges)
- 2 plum tomatoes(cut into little pieces)
- 1 sliced habanero pepper
- 1 small garlic clove(crushed into a paste)
- 1 cup mixed vegetables(optional)
- 1½ cup washed and cooked snails(if raw, steam with salt, bouillon, 1 habanero pepper and
- garlic)
- 1 handful basil(sliced)
- 4 table spoons palm oil (add more oil if you want)
- 1½ cups raw shrimp
- 1 smoked fish
- ½ cup chopped and sautéed liver(cook, cut into little pieces and sauté in oil until golden brown but not burnt)
- 1 tsp Cameroon pepper
- bouillon
- salt to taste
I can’t wait to try this. It can pass as “African” paella. I am loving the idea of stewed snails..
Thanks for sharing your recipe.
Thank you!!!
Will try this. Nice one
Thank you!
Wow what a yummy recipe! i can’t wait to try this out asap.
Thank you 🙂
I’ve been looking for palm oil rice recipe for a while. Thank God I found this. I can’t wait to try it out.
Thank you. I hope you enjoy