My submission: Good morning, Good afternoon and Good evening to you depending on what time you see this. I want to wish everyone a prosperous Happy New Year officially. Below is my submission for the contest but before I start, I want to give a brief history on the dish I will be preparing,
Nigeria Jollof Rice with salad.
The Ingredients used in cooking:1: Rice
2: Tomatoes - Both fresh and Tomato paste.
3: Salt.
4: Pepper - Different types of pepper were used.
5: Ginger, Onions and garlic
6: Chicken
7: Seasonings
8: Groundnut Oil.
9: Salad - Cabbage, Cucumber. Carrots, other vegetables and Salad Cream.
extra: Other secret family recipes.
Cooking Process: Firstly, I seasoned my chicken with all the necessary ingredient that is used to add taste to your chicken before you cook. I used Peppers, Salt, Maggi, Onions, Curry, thyme, Garlic and ginger and when it was done cooking, I drained out the water remaining to be used for the jollof rice cooking. I then fried the chicken in medium heat to avoid over frying.
After that I cut my fresh tomatoes and other vegetables that were to be used then I dried them in the oven and blended them into a paste to be used for the cooking.
Next, I measured and wash my rice. In this stage your decision for the quantity of rice to be used should be depending on the quantity of the tomatoes that you have because you need your jollof rice to have equal colours to look appetising.
I used 3 cups of rice since I was not cooking a big meal and my tomatoes were not too many. While my rice was on fire parboiling, I started preparing my salad with the ingredients. I did not add too much ingredients to my salad but only used the ones I listed above.
Finally, When I was done parboiling the rice, a fresh cooking pot was put on fire and I started with adding groundnut oil in the pot, added my onions and tomatoes paste, other ingredients were added and after some few minutes of boiling I add my rice, water and cooked for some minutes until it was done then it was served with a traditional drink called
Zobo drink that was also made by me at home.
Conclusion: Although this is a meal I am used to cooking often, the experience this time was different because it felt like I was cooking for a competition and every step I took was taken with extreme calculations like it was going to be tasted by judges. I enjoyed myself and thank you Mia Chloe for organizing this contest. Less I forget, the food was delicious too. My submission came in the next day because I was exhausted from the cooking.