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How to Make Nigerian Red Stew & Rice

Published: Feb 14, 2017 · Last Modified: Aug 27, 2023 by Jazzmine Woodard · This post may contain affiliate links · 8 Comments

Nigerian tomato stew, also called red stew or just "stew," is a simple yet flavorful staple that you can make as spicy as you wish . Originally published February 2017. Last updated January 2023.

A prepared pot of stew is a mainstay in any proper Nigerian household, even the Black American/Nigerian one I grew up in. Because it's not only tasty but so versatile. This post will take you through the steps to make red stew like a Nigerian auntie and many ways to enjoy it--including special tips to get it right the first time. Let's get into the delicious details!

If you enjoy this recipe, you'll also love my Slow Cooker Chicken Tagine or Suya Street Tacos !

pot of cooked Nigerian tomato stew and chicken legs.

What You'll Need for this Recipe

What is Nigerian stew made of? Stew is comprised of tomatoes, aromatics, savory broth or bouillon, and spices. Here are the West African stew ingredient list to add to your grocery list.

Bell Pepper
Black Pepper
Curry Powder
Maggi Cubes
Roma Tomatoes
Scotch Bonnet Peppers
Tomato Paste
Tomato Sauce
White Pepper

* Pro tip: You can use a variety of oils in making stew. Palm oil and vegetable oil or a combination of both are the most common. I also like using avocado oil because of the high smoke point.

Chicken drumsticks and sliced white onions cooking in oil.

What kind of meat goes in Naija stew?

Just about any kind of animal protein tastes good in stew and it's a catch-all for all different cuts of meat, including organ meat and skin. My family loves stew with salmon , chicken, or beef. For today's pot, I'm using chicken and flavorful liquid from cooking the chicken adds an extra punch of savory and umami taste to stew so don't skip it. Keep scrolling for the full flavor profile.

What Does it Taste Like?

Naija tomato stew is rich and savory. Depending on how many peppers you include and the grade of curry, it can also be quite spicy. I recommend starting with just one scotch bonnet or habañero pepper if you're new to Nigerian cuisine. The vegetable puree in stew is also a flavor base for many Nigerian staple recipes. If you've had jollof rice before, you'll recognize the flavor!

adding tomato paste to a pot of cooking veggie puree.

Tips & Tools for Making Naija Stew

Grab a blender to puree the tomatoes, peppers, and onion. In the old days this was pounded by hand but now, most Naija households have a blender for this express purpose. You'll also need a sharp knife , cutting board, and a large, deep pot. I use a wooden spoon to mix and stir all the ingredients while cooking. This is aligned with tradition but you can use what you have on hand.

How do I know when stew is done? Taste as you go. As you cook a pot of stew, the texture thickens and the flavor deepens as more water is released from the vegetables. Feel free to enlist taste testers, too. My Aunty Toyin and Aunty Faosat taught me how to cook this dish and could tell me what it needed with just a single bite!

How to store? I've been known to leave a pot of stew on the stove for a day or so but for the best results use an airtight container and store refrigerated. Stew will keep for about a week.

Can I freeze the stew? Absolutely! I recommend portioning it out into single servings before freezing so that you can just reheat what you need.

chicken drumstick and brown rice with red stew on white plate.

How to Serve

What do Nigerians eat? At just about any time of day, stew is a reasonable answer because it can be eaten with breakfast, lunch or dinner. It's versatile and flavors a variety of meats. Stew is typically served with fluffy white rice but can work with a variety of starches, including pounded yam and fried plantain . In the morning, it's great on eggs.

Make it your own. I'm bringing you the best representation of how we make Nigerian rice & stew in my family but everybody makes it at least a little bit differently.

pot of Nigerian stew and chicken with wooden spoon.

More Popular Nigerian Dishes

Dodo Sweet and simple fried plantains

Ewa Riro Beans stewed in aromatics and spices with smoky meat

Jollof Rice Spicy, smoky rice cooked in layers of flavor

Yaji Nutty dry spice rub that's great on grilled meats and roasted vegetables

Zobo Drink Fruity, earthy brewed hibiscus tea

I hope you'll try try Nigerian stew with rice soon and very soon. And sharing is caring so be sure to pin this recipe for later and follow me on Pinterest . Thanks for reading!

Classic Nigerian Stew Recipe

Nigerian Red Stew and Rice

Ingredients 1x 2x 3x.

▢ 6 Roma tomatoes
▢ 2 habanero or scotch bonnet peppers
▢ 1 bell pepper seeded
▢ 1 white onion
▢ ¼ cup water
▢ oil of choice I use recommend palm oil or avocado oil
▢ 1 ½ pounds meat of your choice I used chicken drumsticks
▢ sea salt to taste
▢ black pepper to taste
▢ 1 rounded tablespoon tomato paste
▢ 8 ounces tomato sauce
▢ 2 maggi cubes crushed
▢ curry powder to taste
▢ white pepper to taste
▢ 4 cups cooked rice

Instructions

Cut tomatoes, peppers, and onion into chunks. Set aside ¼ onion and add remaining produce to a blender with about ¼ cup of water. Blend until liquefied then set aside.
Meanwhile, add enough oil to a large pot or skillet to coat the bottom of the pot over medium-high heat. Slice the remaining onion into thin strips and add it to pot, followed by chicken, black pepper, and sea salt. Cook for about 10 minutes or until chicken begins to brown and release juices.
Pour tomato mixture into pot, followed by tomato paste and sauce. Add crushed maggi cubes, curry powder, and white pepper and stir until incorporated.
Let stew cook, stirring regularly and reduce heat to medium if it begins to splatter too much. After 10 minutes or so, the tomato mixture should become bubbly, thickened, and darker in color. Continue stirring to release more of the liquid. The oil that cooked the chicken will cook the raw tomato taste out of the stew.
Next, taste test and salt the stew as necessary. The maggi has a lot of salt so you may not need to add much. Continue cooking until the stew reaches your desired consistency and some of the oil dissipates. If desired, spoon out any excess oil upon completion.
Serve with cooked rice or starch of your choosing.

More of Flavorful African Recipes

Reader Interactions

Ted Ihama says

July 27, 2018 at 1:08 pm

On point baby girl..You did your thing.I know from experience I will never be good as my mom,aunts ,sisters but I try..You just have to go with the flow and leave the haters..My son in law to be loves my cooking my kids are my biggest critics .. And norw my grand children,,,,?

July 27, 2018 at 2:43 pm

Thank you so much!

Victoria Kay says

February 16, 2017 at 11:55 am

I can smell this recipe through the screen. Of course I would see this after I already ate crap for lunch. I'm gonna give this a try.

February 16, 2017 at 4:24 pm

Lol thank you! I hope you love it and let me know if you have questions!

Krysten says

February 14, 2017 at 1:44 pm

I love that you brought your family in to help you with this recipe, it shows that you really want the best for your readers! I think this looks fantastic and I cannot wait to make it!

21flavorsofsplendor says

February 14, 2017 at 10:54 am

This looks so yummy! I love trying new dishes from different cultures and this one I'll have to try!

Clarissa says

February 14, 2017 at 10:33 am

This sounds so amazing! I've never made anything like this and I'm really excited to try it - so fun for a special Valentine's Day meal!

-Clarissa @ The View From Here

platformsandpacifiers says

February 14, 2017 at 6:40 am

This looks SO GOOD! I'd have to tone down the spice a litttttttllle but it looks great none the less!

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Nigerian Rice and Stew

Boiled White Rice

Ingredients
Long grain parboiled white rice
Salt (Optional)

Cooking Directions

Parboil the rice using the method detailed in How to Parboil Rice for Cooking White Rice . You may want to parboil it for much longer depending on personal preference.
Pour the rice in a sieve to drain out the hot water.
Dip in cold water, then wash and drain.
Meanwhile set some water to boil in a pot big enough to accommodate the rice bearing in mind that the rice will rise some more. The extent of rising depends on the type of rice and for how long it was parboiled.
Add the parboiled rice and salt (optional). Check to see that the water level is just about the same as the rice.
Cook till the water is just about drying up. Check that the rice is done. If not, add more water and keep cooking.
Keep checking till the rice is done. Leave to dry completely. This is usually confirmed by a ticking sound coming from the pot.

Eat with Meatball Stew , Beef and Chicken Stew , Banga Stew (Ofe Akwu) , Vegetable Sauce , Pepper Soup , Mixed Vegetables Curry Sauce or even Egusi Soup .

Boiled White Rice and Stew accessories include: Fried Plantain , Nigerian Moi Moi and other Nigerian Rice Accessories .

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Nigerian Rice and Stew (Classic Vintage Nigerian Meal)

This is something i love to call the Vintage Nigerian meal…Everybody that lived or lives in Nigeria at some point just had or still has just rice, stew and dodo. This is very simple to prepare and does not take a lot of time. The recipe is seen below

Ingredients

*2cups – Rice

*10 cubes – Beef

*5 Large Tomatoes

*4 pieces -Pepper

*1 stick – Plantain

*3 Cooking Spoons of Vegetable Oil

*4 Cubes of Maggi Cube

* 1 Bulb – Onion

* 1/2 teaspoon – Curry

* Pinch of Thyme

* 1 teaspoon dry pepper

*1 Teaspoon of Salt

* 4 cups of water

#Wash Rice and boil with 2 cups of water till soft and add a pinch of salt.

# Wash beef, season with a pinch of salt, pepper, 1 maggi cube and a spoon of chopped onions and boil for 15minutes

# Wash tomato and pepper and blend with 1 cup of water. Bring to boil for 15minutes

# Heat up two cooking spoons of oil and fry beef till brown

# Chop onions and heat up 1 cooking spoon of oil and fry the onions.

# Pour the boiled tomato and pepper into the oil and fry for 7 minutes

# Add 2 maggi cubes, salt, dry pepper, curry and thyme and stir. Allow to simmer for 5 minutes on low heat

#Dice the plantain and fry

How To Make Beef Stew And Rice: The Easy Way!

What To Know

In this comprehensive guide, we will embark on a step-by-step journey to create the perfect beef stew and rice dish that will tantalize your taste buds and leave you longing for more.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 1 hour and 30 minutes, or until the beef is tender and falling apart.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 18 minutes, or until the rice is cooked through and all the water has been absorbed.

Craving a hearty and comforting meal that warms the soul? Look no further than the classic combination of beef stew and rice. This culinary masterpiece is a symphony of flavors and textures, perfect for chilly evenings or special occasions. In this comprehensive guide, we will embark on a step-by-step journey to create the perfect beef stew and rice dish that will tantalize your taste buds and leave you longing for more.

Ingredients: The Foundation of Flavor

Before we dive into the cooking process , let’s gather the essential ingredients that will form the foundation of our beef stew and rice:

2 pounds beef chuck roast, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups beef broth
1 cup red wine
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried thyme
Salt and black pepper to taste
2 cups long-grain rice
3 cups water

Step 1: Sear the Beef for Richness

In a large Dutch oven or pot, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Season the beef cubes with salt and pepper and add them to the pot. Sear on all sides until browned, about 5-7 minutes. This step is crucial as it develops a rich and flavorful crust on the beef.

Step 2: Sauté the Vegetables for Depth

Once the beef is seared, remove it from the pot and set aside. Add the onion, carrots, and celery to the pot and sauté for 5-7 minutes, or until softened. Stir in the garlic and cook for an additional minute to release its aroma.

Step 3: Deglaze the Pot for Intensity

Add the red wine to the pot and bring to a boil. Use a wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot, deglazing the pan and infusing the stew with extra flavor . Allow the wine to reduce by half, about 5 minutes.

Step 4: Simmer for Tender Perfection

Return the beef to the pot and add the beef broth, Worcestershire sauce , tomato paste , oregano, thyme, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 1 hour and 30 minutes, or until the beef is tender and falling apart.

Step 5: Cook the Rice for a Perfect Pair

While the stew is simmering, it’s time to prepare the rice. In a medium saucepan , combine the rice and water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 18 minutes, or until the rice is cooked through and all the water has been absorbed.

Step 6: Thicken the Stew for Richness

Once the beef is tender, remove the pot from the heat and remove the beef. Use a fork or two spoons to shred the beef into bite-sized pieces. Return the shredded beef to the pot. In a small bowl , whisk together 1 tablespoon of cornstarch and 2 tablespoons of water. Gradually whisk the cornstarch mixture into the stew until thickened.

Step 7: Serve and Savor the Culinary Delight

Spoon the beef stew over the cooked rice and serve immediately . Garnish with fresh parsley or chives for an extra touch of flavor. Savor the tender beef, flavorful vegetables, and perfectly cooked rice that come together in this culinary masterpiece.

Tips for a Perfect Beef Stew and Rice

For a richer flavor, use a darker red wine, such as Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot.
Add a bay leaf to the stew for an extra layer of depth.
If you don’t have red wine, you can substitute with an equal amount of beef broth.
For a thicker stew, add an additional tablespoon of cornstarch.
If you want to add vegetables, consider peas, green beans, or mushrooms.

The Finishing Touch: Variations and Enhancements

Creamy Beef Stew: Add 1 cup of heavy cream to the stew after it has thickened for a velvety texture.
Spicy Beef Stew: Stir in 1 teaspoon of chili powder or cayenne pepper for a kick of heat.
Vegetable Beef Stew: Add 1 cup of frozen mixed vegetables to the stew for a more nutritious and colorful dish.
Slow Cooker Beef Stew: Place all the ingredients in a slow cooker and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 3-4 hours.

Beyond the Ordinary: Beef Stew and Rice Reimagined

Shepherd’s Pie: Top the beef stew with mashed potatoes and bake in the oven until golden brown.
Beef Stew Soup: Simmer the beef stew until the vegetables are very tender and the broth is flavorful. Serve as a hearty soup.
Beef Stew Tacos: Shred the beef and serve it on tortillas with your favorite taco toppings.
Beef Stew Risotto: Cook the rice in the beef stew broth for a creamy and flavorful risotto.

Nana’s Chicken and Rice Stew

By Matthew Raiford

Southern grandmas are unmatched when it comes to making hearty meals to feed the whole family, and this chicken and rice stew from Bress ’n’ Nyam author Matthew Raiford ’s nana is no exception. “As I wrote out this recipe, I remembered laughing with my nana while talking about leftovers and how much stock the bones of a whole roasted chicken made,” Raiford says. “Nana always had chicken stock in large mason jars in her deep freeze.” Raiford recommends serving this nourishing stew with freshly baked biscuits and honey butter to make it extra hearty.

All products featured on Bon Appétit are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through the retail links below, we earn an affiliate commission.

What you’ll need

$133 $80 At Amazon

Image may contain Cutlery Spoon and Wooden Spoon

$8 At Amazon

$21 At Amazon

Ingredients

Preparation.

Heat butter and oil in a large Dutch oven or other heavy pot over medium. Add onion, carrots, celery, and mushrooms and cook, stirring often, until softened and fragrant, about 5 minutes.

Season chicken all over with salt and pepper; add to pot. Cook, turning over halfway through, just until exterior of chicken is opaque, about 2 minutes total. Add sage, thyme, 1 Tbsp. Diamond Crystal or 1¾ tsp. Morton kosher salt, and 1 quart water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until chicken is tender and cooked through, 30–35 minutes. Discard sage and thyme. Using tongs, transfer chicken to a plate; let cool slightly, then shred meat with 2 forks.

Return chicken to pot and stir in rice, marjoram, rosemary (if using), 1 Tbsp. parsley (if using), and 1½ cups water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, partially cover pot, and simmer until rice is tender and liquid is mostly absorbed, 30–35 minutes. Remove pot from heat and let stew sit 5 minutes.

Ladle stew into bowls; top with parsley if desired.

Do ahead : Stew can be made 1 day ahead. Let cool completely; cover and chill. Reheat over medium, adding water 1 cup at a time as needed to loosen.

Editor’s note : This recipe was updated to adjust the amount of rice required.

How would you rate Nana’s Chicken and Rice Stew?

Leave a Review

Reviews (84)

Excellent! Made 1 1/2 times recipe and it was very good!

Perfect meal. Subbed water with bone broth + needed a little heat[crushed chili pepper] to give it a kick. A keeper in my book.

ManySummits

San Francisco, CA

This recipe is seriously amazing. It’s proof of the alchemy that occurs when simple ingredients are brought to their full potential! It’s so delicious and comforting - I’ve made it 4 times now. The only modification I make is doubling the amount of chicken and using homemade bone broth instead of water.

Portland, OR

This recipe is perfect!

The recipe printed in the magazine calls for two cups of rice but the online recipe only calls for one. I only used one- I get the magazine but always read the reviews. It turned out like a stew, not a soup. Thick like a stew with just a enough of the delicious broth. If you like it more like soup, use less than one cup of uncooked rice.

Atlanta, GA

This was delicious! Only changes: I used chicken broth, and in addition to to shiitakes, added some dried mushrooms, and later, the water I used to plump the dried mushooms up in when the rice was added. Also added some Penzey's Spices Fox Point Seasoning. Served with some freshly baked sourdough bread and garlic butter.

Ellen Simmons

South Pasadena, CA

Are you trying to alienate everyone who had an amazing crowd feeding/healing/hearty cook of a grandma who was not from the Southern United States? Who are you to judge grandmas the world over who feed with their love and culinary expertise? Put me off this recipe from the first sentence…. And those grandmas you are referring to inherited their talents from other nations far and wide. Rude.

Italy Scotland France Vietnam Korea Germany

I cant print the recipe for chk soup. And I Get on appetite. what up

Not sure where some of you got 2 cups…recipe says 1 cup rice……..

I'll definitely make this again. Without reading the other comments, I reduced the rice to 1c, which is perfect. I used 2 whole bone-in leg/thighs. Next time I'll probably reduce the amount of salt.

Super delicious and very fragrant. It’s the perfect soup for a cold day. Love the user feedback. I made the rice separately and let everyone add in as desired. it’s already on repeat.

Michael Paster

Red Bank, NJ

Just came off the stove here and it's fabulous. Read through the reviews about the amount of rice that should be use and decided on half a cup. Really because that is exactly what I had on hand. Turned out so nice. Smells so good while it's cooking. This is a keeper.

Jersey Shore

This was easy to make, delicious, made the house smell great and was a nice meal on a cold evening. I read the comments about too much rice but decided to use the full 2 cups, and my family was fine with it being less brothy. However, my son recommended that I make it next time without the rice, because both my kids had tasted - and loved - the broth. In any case, everyone finished their whole bowl, and we have plenty of leftovers for a meal to come.

Los Angeles, CA

This was delicious. I followed the advice of the reviewers and reduced the quantity of rice (2/3 cup, based on 1:3 ratio uncooked to cooked rice, don't know if that was the "right" amount, but it worked). I noticed many folks used chicken stock; I used water as per the recipe. The relatively long simmer, along with the herbs, did yield a flavorful broth. Stock would no doubt elevate it, if you want to go that route. The Basmati rice held up well when we reheated the leftovers. This is definitely a keeper.

How To Cook Nigerian Stew: A Step-by-step Guide

Nigerian stew is a delicious, hearty meal that is enjoyed by many across the country. It is a staple in Nigerian cuisine and is usually served with rice, yam or plantain. The aroma that fills the air while cooking Nigerian stew is truly irresistible. If you're looking to cook Nigerian stew for the first time, this article will guide you through the process. Here's how to cook Nigerian stew:

Table of Contents

Ingredients

The ingredients you'll need to cook Nigerian stew are:

2 lbs of chicken or beef
4-5 medium-sized tomatoes
2 bell peppers
3 scotch bonnet peppers (optional)
1 cup of oil
2 tablespoons of tomato paste
Seasoning (maggi cubes or bouillon cubes, thyme, curry powder, salt, and pepper)
Wash your meat and season it with your preferred seasoning. Leave it to marinate in the refrigerator for at least an hour.
Cut your tomatoes, onions, and bell peppers into small pieces. If you're using scotch bonnet peppers, remove the seeds and chop them into small pieces.
Heat up your oil in a pot. Add the chopped onions and fry until they are translucent.
Add the marinated meat and fry until it is browned. You may need to do this in batches to avoid overcrowding the pot.
Add the chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, and peppers. Stir well and let it cook for about 10-15 minutes until the tomatoes are soft and mushy.
Add your preferred seasoning (maggi cubes or bouillon cubes, thyme, curry powder, salt, and pepper). Stir well and let it cook for another 5-10 minutes.
Add about 1-2 cups of water, depending on how thick you want your stew to be. Stir well and let it cook for another 10-15 minutes until the meat is tender.
Taste your stew and adjust the seasoning if necessary.
Your Nigerian stew is now ready to be served with rice, yam, or plantain.
You can use any type of meat you prefer, but chicken and beef are the most popular choices.
For a richer flavor, you can fry your meat until it's almost burnt before adding the other ingredients.
If you're using scotch bonnet peppers, be careful not to touch your face or eyes while chopping them as they are very spicy.

Cooking Nigerian stew is not as difficult as it may seem. With the right ingredients and following the steps above, you can make a delicious pot of Nigerian stew in no time. Don't be afraid to experiment with different seasonings and meat choices to create a stew that suits your taste buds. Happy cooking!

What is the best type of meat to use for Nigerian stew?

The most popular meat choices for Nigerian stew are chicken and beef. You can use any type of meat you prefer, but these two are the most commonly used.

Can I make Nigerian stew without peppers?

Peppers are a key ingredient in Nigerian stew and are responsible for the heat and flavor. However, if you're not a fan of peppers or cannot tolerate spicy food, you can reduce the amount of peppers used or leave them out altogether.

How long should I marinate my meat?

You should marinate your meat for at least an hour, preferably overnight for the best flavor.

Can I use canned tomatoes?

Fresh tomatoes are recommended for Nigerian stew, but if you don't have access to fresh tomatoes, canned tomatoes can be used as a substitute.

Can I freeze Nigerian stew?

Yes, Nigerian stew can be frozen for up to three months. Allow it to cool completely before storing it in an airtight container or freezer bag. Thaw it in the refrigerator overnight before reheating.

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Home » How to Make Ofada Stew (Nigerian Ofada Sauce Recipe)

How to Make Ofada Stew (Nigerian Ofada Sauce Recipe)

In this recipe, i share how to make ofada stew, a stew that originates from western nigeria and is commonly eaten with a locally grown rice called ofada rice. ofada stew is one of those delicious native savory dishes that packs a major punch as it is flavored with smoked died shrimp, and fermented locust beans (iru)..

This ofada stew/ofada sauce recipe features a stew that originates from the Western part of Nigeria and is commonly eaten with a locally grown rice called ofada rice. The story of Ofada rice and stew is one that somewhat inspires me. It is actually a culinary example of a grass to grace/ cinderella story; one that is similar to the story of many local and indigenous Nigerian foods, traditions and even languages. I love how ofada stew has since evolved to becoming a cherished dish in Nigeria, so before I talk about how to make ofada stew, I’d love to share how this native delicacy evolved from being the overlooked native food to being the choice of even the most elite Nigerian celebrations.

How to Make Ofada Stew (Nigerian Ofada Sauce Recipe) - top view of one dished bowl of ofada rice and stew and another held by two hands with two wooden bowls of ofada rice on the side

Once upon a time Ofada rice and stew was not a posh dish. It was somewhat looked down upon, and those who enjoyed it may have been looked at as unexposed, and unrefined. The more common stew was made with refined vegetable oils and tomatoes (delicious for what it is), and has a milder flavor than ofada stew. Ofada stew is one of those dishes that packs a major punch as it is flavored with smoked died shrimp, and fermented locust beans, locally called iru. To the “snobby” nose, the smell of Iru and smoked dried shrimp cooking in a stew may have been somewhat off putting, as such it was not appealing to many. When people had the option to display your sophisticated pallet, they often chose westernized dishes that lacked the pungency and grit of local Nigerian flavors, and unfortunately, Ofada rice and stew was one of those looked down on.

Fast forward a couple of years, the movement to embrace made in Nigeria products and culture began to blossom and the appreciation and love for our local delicacies was revived. Ofada stew the once “ugly” sister to the common tomato stew, started to make appearances at parties and weddings. Ofada became the topic of everyone’s food gist, and it continued to grow in popularity till it made its way to the menu of fancy restaurants. Nowadays, you can even find Ofada listed in many little children’s essay assignments as their favorite food. That is the mini story of Ofada stew, (well, according to my recollection).

Ofada stew has a twin sister dish in another local stew natively called ‘ayamase’ (alternatively nicknamed ‘designer stew’ in Nigeria). In fact, both stews are sometimes used interchangeably, however there is a slight technical difference between them: ofada stew is made with red peppers while ayamase is made with the green variety. Ofada stew got its name originally from ofada rice, the local starch with which it is most closely paired. Ofada rice is a blend of rice unique to West Africa, which due to its unpolished nature, retains a lot of the rice bran on the grains (because of its difficulty to mill, earning the nomenclature of partly milled rice). This makes ofada rice tougher to cook but far more nutritious, because the presence of the nutrient bearing hull retains a lot of the naturally occurring fiber, manganese, magnesium and selenium that is removed from the more processed white rice.

Please refer to my braising technique , for the correct way to braise the goat meat used in this recipe. While ofada sauce/stew is usually eaten with ofada rice, it also goes great with white rice, brown rice and yam.

Now that you’re here why not take a quick second and click the links to FOLLOW ME ON PINTEREST or INSTAGRAM ? You can catch some behind the scenes stuff on my Instagram, pin this ofada rice and stew/ofada sauce recipe for later or explore some of my favorite recipes on Pinterest and if you love it as much as I know you will, SHARE with some friends!

How to Make Ofada Stew (Nigerian Ofada Sauce recipe)

Ingredients.

7 large bell peppers
3 scotch bonnet peppers
4 large red onions
2 lbs braised goat meat (braised with 1 red onion, 1 scotch bonnet pepper, 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp bouillon)
80 grams cleaned smoked dried fish (about 0.17lbs)
20 grams smoked dried shrimp about (0.04 lbs)
½ cup palm oil
2 tsps bouillon
salt to taste
1 tbsp Iru (fermented locust beans) (optional)

Instructions

While the peppers are reducing, slice 2 red onions and set aside

Add in the cleaned smoked dried fish, the shrimp and continue to cook for another 10 minutes.

Now that you know how to make ofada stew properly, I hope you enjoy the spicy yet amazing flavors this delicacy assaults your taste buds with! You can also officially claim bragging rights and Nigerian street cred for being able to reproduce what has become one of our most delicious indigenous dishes! Let me know what you think of this ofada stew recipe in the comments below and don’t forget to rate!

How to Make Ofada Stew (Nigerian Ofada Sauce Recipe) - close up of bowl of ofada rice and stew

65 Comments

Okpei. Fermented locust beans

Nice article. Ayamsase is abeokuta stew. And ofada is likewise ftom ogun state. It wasn’t “looked down on” peoppe just didn’t know it. Designer stew is similar but is just buka pepper sauce. Called designer because it was popularized by “desinger” caterters. Ofada rice is fermented. Original ayamase doesn’t use bullion cubes. If you are ever in abeokuta close to the alake’s palace, stop by and try it. Bullion free. Just technique.

Good to know! Thanks for sharing!

Eunice Ajao

Jollof Rice (Ghana Style)

By: Author Freda

Posted on Last updated: September 26, 2022

This recipe for Ghanaian jollof rice brings you a brightly colored red/orange rice dish, with wonderful spice and rich and saucy beef (or other meat). Jollof rice is a much-loved festive dish that people often serve at weddings, parties, and other large gatherings. The rice cooks in a rich and spicy tomato-based sauce, giving it a bright color .

Jollof rice with beef topped with beef stew Ghanaian version

The origins of jollof rice

As much as we have prominent “jollof wars” between Nigerians and Ghanaians, all centered around who makes the best jollof rice, it actually originates somewhere else.

Jollof comes from the Senegambia region of West Africa, particularly Senegal. There t hey call this rice dish thieboudienne or ceebu jen . To make it they use a mixture of rice, onions, tomatoes, and fish.

How this dish then managed to lend itself to the rest of West Africa as jollof, jellof or jallof still remains a mystery.

Some think that this could be connected to the Senegalese Wolof tribe. Others have also made the connection between jollof rice and jambalaya . H owever, the direct connection has been heavily contested even though the dishes look similar in appearance.

I have had my own theories as to how it happened that the modern-day jollof, a rice dish filled with ingredients that are not indigenous to West Africa, came to be, which you can read about in my Party Jollof recipe .

Which rice is best for jollof?

The first component of jollof is the actual rice. As we are focusing on Ghanaian jollof rice here, it pays to note that the choice of rice will vary greatly across the different West African regions.

Ghanaians are partial to long grain rice such as Thai jasmine or Basmati rice.

Nigerians prefer the plump and separated grain effect of par boiled rice such as Uncle Ben’s style rice, easy cook rice, or what we now know as Golden Sella Basmati rice. This is rice that has been parboiled in the husk before milling. The result is a stiffer grain that does not stick together when cooked.

Ghanaians pride themselves as being purists by staying away from this kind of processed rice, however the benefits of the parboiling process makes the rice easier to digest.

Tomato stew — a jollof essential

The second major component in jollof is the tomato stew base.

Cooks usually m ake the stew by frying onions and adding tomato paste or puree to enrich the sauce. Then they add tomatoes, garlic, peppers, and ginger. Once all ingredients are in the pot, they reduce the sauce to a thick and rich oily mixture.

We love observing an oil film at the top of a stew or sauce. This signals that it is ready to receive the rice and additional water for steaming.

Does jollof rice have meat in it?

Jollof can come with or without meat. But the third component of today’s Ghanaian jollof rice recipe, particular to many Ghanaians, is meat mixed into the rice.

Goat, beef, or lamb (ram meat) are common additions. (I love jollof rice with goat meat or beef.)

Jollof rice can also be made with chicken or fish.

Other modern variations have seen people mix corned beef into their rice to make an entirely delicious meal with a modern industrialized twist.

What is used to season jollof rice?

A variety of spices can be used to make this one-pot dish. I find that the choice of meat will determine the direction of spices used.

Memories of my mother’s jollof rice are filled with the rich aroma of cloves, which she would always add to her goat or beef jollof rice.

Seasonings such as bouillon cubes, chicken spice, or salt may be added, followed by dried aromatic herbs such as bay leaves, thyme, or mixed herbs.

You can now even find “jollof mix” spice blends in some stores depending on your location.

Can I add vegetables to jollof?

The final step in Ghanaian jollof rice is stirring in some mixed vegetables such as carrots, green beans, and peas.

This step may have come out of food and nutrition or catering lessons, as the result is a beautifully bright garnish, however, it is a very common step in Ghana.

Other vegetables that can be used are cabbage, aubergines (eggplant), and tubers such as cassava or potatoes. However, these are more common in thieboudienne and other Sahel regions of West Africa.

Jollof rice with beef topped with beef stew

Variations of jollof in West Africa

As previously mentioned, in Senegal, the dish called thieboudienne is the national dish of the country and is considered the origin of jollof rice.

Not far away in neighboring Gambia, benachin is the thieboudienne equivalent.

When I was growing up, I remember my aunt’s benachin. She would make it with dried salted fish, which had a fermented flavour. Her’s was absolutely delicious.

Nigeria’s most popular jollof rice is known as “party jollof” in Lagos state. Party jollof is one of the most searched African food items on Google. It is often cooked in large quantities, over a wood fire and is described as having a smoky flavour, which comes from the charring at the bottom of the huge three-legged vats that caterers use.

Similar Dishes to jollof rice around the world

When cooked without meat, jollof is very much a savoury rice dish, comparable to the Portuguese arroz de tomate .

I previously mentioned jambalaya as a dish that is similar to jollof rice. It is a dish with West African and French roots.

Not far from jambalaya in America’s south, Gullah red rice is almost identical to jollof, with the addition of smoked sausage.

This recipe for Ghanaian jollof rice brings you a brightly colored red/orange rice dish, with a wonderful spice and rich, spicy, and saucy meat.

Ingredients

For the meat.

750 to 800g (1 1/3 lbs) lamb (or beef)
½ an onion
1 scotch bonnet pepper (habanero is a good substitute)*
1 bouillon cube**
3 whole cloves (roughly 1/4 tsp ground)

For the rice

4 Tablespoon oil
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 inch fresh ginger, grated
1 scotch bonnet pepper (habanero pepper)*, chopped
1 Tablespoon tomato puree (tomato paste)
6 large, fresh tomatoes or 1 and ½ cans of tomato, chopped
1 seasoning cube/bouillon cube** (or salt to taste)
1 teaspoon thyme
2 cups long grain rice (Thai jasmine)
2 cups hot water or stock/broth**
½ cup mixed carrots and peas (thawed if frozen or fresh)
A round of parchment paper that fits inside your cooking pot (see step 11)

Instructions

Cut the lamb (or beef) into sizeable chunks.
Create a paste by blending the ½ portion of onion and lamb seasoning in a food processor or with a mortar and pestle. Then, rub the paste on your meat pieces.
If the meat is tough, simmer the meat and sauce paste until the meat is tender, then remove the pieces of meat and grill or fry them so the lamb pieces crisp up.
If the meat is tender, it can go straight to the grill for cooking through. Set the cooked meat aside.
Rinse your rice and start some water boiling (for soaking the rice in step 7). (The rice is washed to remove excess starchiness, which can make the final dish gloopy or sticky.)
To make the stew base, heat the oil in a heavy bottomed saucepan.
Fry the onions until golden brown. Add the garlic and ginger a few seconds before adding your tomato puree (tomato paste). Fry for just under a minute.
Add the thyme and bouillon cube, followed by the tomatoes and scotch bonnet pepper.
Cook the sauce for about 15 to 20 minutes. Stir continuously to make sure it is not burning at the bottom.
Next, add all the meat and stir to coat it well in the sauce. Continue cooking the stew.
While the tomato sauce is cooking, soak the rinsed rice in some boiled water until the stew base is ready.
Once the stew is thick, with an oily film forming on the surface, remove half the meat stew from the pot and set it aside for serving. (This is a preference particular to Ghanaians, who will often eat jollof rice with additional stew on the side.)
Strain the soaked rice and add it to the pot. Season to taste carefully.
Top up the pot with enough water or broth. For those with an experienced eye for rice, this would normally be about 500ml (2 cups). (You may need to add more later if the rice is still hard.) Stir to mix, then bring to a boil, then reduce to medium heat.
Once simmering nicely and the moisture has nearly all gone, add the peas and carrots. Then cover with parchment paper right above the rice (to lock in moisture and add natural cooking pressure). Close with an airtight lid. Reduce the heat to low and simmer gently for 20 minutes.
Taste the rice. Once the grains are cooked it is ready.
The bottom of the pot will have a layer of caramelized jollof with concentrated flavour. For those who want a smoky flavour, raise the heat back to high for a few minutes, and allow the bottom of the pot to toast. Take off the heat and your rice is smoky and ready to eat! Washing the pot will be interesting afterwards, but nothing a good soaking can’t fix.***

* Scotch bonnet peppers are quite spicy, which will give significant heat to this dish, as is traditional. If you prefer more medium or mild food, adjust the amount of scotch bonnet pepper according to your preferences. While not traditional, a 1/2 teaspoon of paprika could be substituted for each pepper for a (not spicy) version that is more accessible to spice-sensitive palates.

**If bouillon cubes are not available, they can be omitted. If doing so, be sure to use broth instead of water for best flavor and add salt to taste.

***To help clean the pot, boil some water in the empty pot. Then let the hot water stand in the pot for 20 minutes. Scraping the bottom occasionally. This typically works quite well for getting those bits un-stuck.

Nutrition Information:

Serving size:, if you liked this recipe, here are some similar dishes you may enjoy.

Freda has been a food writer for 10 years, with a significant focus on the under-explored area of African cuisines. She is now established as an African Cuisine Expert and resides in Lagos, Nigeria with her husband and 4 children. In 2018 she co-authored “The Science of Spice”, exploring the spices of the African continent. You can find Freda on her site MyBurntOrange.com.

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Thursday 1st of September 2022

Hello. I'm fully Ghanaian and I know how I loved jollof, growing up. I agree the major problem is too much water. However, the type of rice used counts a lot. For example, Ofada rice and other types of hard-to-cook local varieties are not suitable for jollof. Also, the only types of rice I soak for jollof are basmati and parboiled rice. All other rice types are washed and drained. Please, in honor of our Ghanaian mamas who pride themselves in "jollofing" skills, can we ask for a repost of this recipe's photo in a more palatable way. Thank you.

Monday 26th of September 2022

Hi Josephine. We have updated our pictures. Can you let us know if you feel that the new ones are a better representation of jollof?

Hi Josephine. Thank you for sharing. We will be doing some testing of Freda's recipe to see what adjustments need to be made and to update to new pictures based on your and other readers' suggestions. Best, Sarah

Sunday 28th of August 2022

I saw the title and end product and decided to let you know this recipe isn't Ghanaian Jollof but I see some good people already pointed it out. Step 1,7,8 and 9 were off and the reason for the end product. We don't wash the rice with hot water or soak it. Rinse with tap water till the water is clear

Also IMO the only sauce allowed on Jollof rice is shito for extra spicy kick. If you're served/eat jollof rice with stew, you can't be trusted lol

Thank you Kweku. We will be reviewing this recipe based on your and our other readers' comments.

HannanBestman

Thursday 25th of August 2022

Freda, Ghana's joffof rice is not typically cooked with the meats in it nor mixed vegetables.

That recipe is uniquely Liberian style which the Liberians got by the way from the Portuguese Paula when Vasco De Gama and crew travelled thru Liberia. Thanks

Thank you for sharing Hannan.

Tuesday 16th of August 2022

Errmmm...I'm Ghanaian and apart from the ingredients being spot on, the final result isn't. It's too moist to be Ghanaian.

Sarah Ozimek

Monday 22nd of August 2022

Hi Mike. Thank you for sharing. Would you suggest less water or broth used in the rice?

Saturday 11th of December 2021

Good recipe but this definitely looks too moist. Jollof rice naturally does not need too much water since it will just retain it and then half cooks and half doesnt yet it starts burning. It is better to use 1:0.5 for rice to water ratio since the stew will also help soften the rice. If you need more water then u add it bit by bit. Also use broad wooden spatulas to prevent the rice from breaking.

Thank you for those tips Nana.

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THE MOST POPULAR FOOD: WHITE RICE AND STEW

The most popular food eaten in Nigeria and several parts of the world is rice. Rice (Oryza sativa) is a popular grain widely eaten in homes, restaurants and occasions. You cannot but mention rice if you are to list out foods. Along with beans, they have dominated people’s menu and food timetables.

Rice eaten in this part of the world is mostly imported from countries such as Thailand, China etc. There is locally-made rice; they are called ‘Ofada rice or Igbemo rice’ while others refer to it as ‘Oh God!’ a name derived from the expression when eaten because of the presence of pebbles. White rice can be eaten with beans, plantain and vegetables. It is mostly served with stew in Nigeria. Rice is a source of carbohydrate.

INGREDIENTS

The ingredients for preparing white rice and stew include; rice, ground pepper, ground tomatoes, palm oil/groundnut oil, dry fish, locust bean, crayfish, stock cubes and salt to taste.

BEFORE PREPARATION

Parboil the meat with stock cubes, curry and salt to taste. Wash the dry fish, cray fish and set aside.

PREPARATION

The first thing to do is to cook the white rice. The rice should be washed thoroughly to reduce its starch content and dirt. It is then parboiled in water with pinch of salt added. It is done when the rice is soft and good in taste. For the stew, heat the groundnut oil or palm oil in a medium heat in a pot. The ground pepper and tomatoes are then poured into the hot oil.

Pour the stock from the beef. Stir the contents continuously and then add crayfish, locust bean, seasoning and salt to taste. Introduce the dry fish and boiled meat into the content and stir. Allow to simmer for about 2 minutes thereafter it is done. White rice and stew is a popular food in every Nigerian restaurant. It is also sold by street hawkers and ‘bookah’. The rate at which white and stew is consumed is as if there would be a life with this meal.

A true Gemini versatile with ink on paper.

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Chef Babyna

welcome to my recipe and lifestyle blog

HOW TO PREPARE RICE AND STEW

Description.

Rice and stew is one combination i really love, i can eat this rice and stew 5 times a day non stop lol 😂 i made this recipe my self and i bet you would love it, if you don’t come to my house and beat me up. Dont forget to give me feedback on my recipe of how to prepare rice and stew.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups of white rice is needed to prepare rice and stew
Fresh tomatoes
Groundnut oil
Fresh pepper
Sachet tomatoes

Instructions

Start by washing the rice in warm water by washing you remove dirt from it, place a clean pot on heat, add water that will be enough for parboiling the rice. Then pour in the washed rice and cover the pot let it boil very well.
Once it start boiling sieve it and rinse the pot, pour in fresh water into it place on heat again add little salt into the water cover the pot and let the water boil. Once the water starts boiling pour in the parboiled rice and stir it properly.
Cover the pot and let the rice cook very well remove from heat after testing for softness and set aside. Start preparing the stew.
Wash the meat, put in a pot add in the curry, thyme, maggi and salt place on heat and let it steam. Add water in the meat pot and cover the pot let the meat don well. Remove pot from heat and set aside.
Continue by washing tomatoes use as many tomatoes as you can for enough stew, peel ginger and garlic wash them properly. Wash pepper too and keep it together with the tomatoes for blending.
Add pepper, tomatoes, ginger and garlic in a blender and blend it all properly. ensure that all ingredients blend smoothly. Next slice your onion or you can decide to dice it neatly, keep aside.
Pour all blended ingredients in a pot place on heat let it boil. observe the tomatoes let the water in it dry up so the sour taste will be off and your stew will come out delicious. Once the water is dried up remove it from heat.
place the stew pot on heat pour in the groundnut oil add salt, add curry, thyme, maggi, and any other spice of yours. Next add in the onions and stir properly lower the heat don’t let it burn.
Pour in the parboiled tomatoes and stir it properly let the tomatoes fry very well in the hot oil. Also add in the sachet tomatoes and mix it well next pour in the cow meat stock and meat, mix all ingredients well and cover the pot let the stew boil properly
Once you open the pot and you notice the sign of on on top of the stew, it means that the stew is read. if you are making use of any vegetable eg green leaf, you can add it in here and mix it properly.
Bring stew down from heat and let it cool down. Your delicious stew is ready to be served with the white rice.
Get a clean plate, scoop some rice into it, add in the stew on it place a piece of meat on it and serve yourself with a cold drink. ensure that the drink is very cold so you can enjoy yourself properly.
you can also serve your family too the way i serve mine.
check out my egusi soup recipes
check out my blog too
check out my twitter page

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Jollof Rice

Jollof rice is bold, deeply red, and explodes with flavor. My version is cooked in the oven, which means you don’t have to keep an eye on it.

Simply Recipes / Ciara Kehoe

I still remember the first time I had jollof rice. I was meeting my ex-boyfriend's family for the first time during Thanksgiving. I was expecting to see the usual stuffing and gravy. Instead, I saw a big pot of red rice on the table. It came as a surprise (what is that?!), but I didn't want to say anything, especially since I was trying to impress the family. His sister introduced it as jollof rice, and I didn't dare repeat the name for fear of saying it wrong. I just smiled and shook my head yes.

The rice was a vibrant orange-red, and the aroma was incredibly inviting. I was met with a burst of flavors when I took my first spoonful. It was bold and fragrant, with a slight sweetness. It had crunchy onions and large pieces of lamb speckled throughout. The jollof was new to me, but it felt familiar, like something I'd grown up eating. It reminded me of home.

What Is Jollof Rice?

Jollof rice is a beloved West African dish with many regional variations. It's made with a unique blend of spices, long-grain rice, and a tomato and red pepper base. It is often served as a hearty entrée by adding beef, chicken, goat, or fish, or as is as a side. Jollof rice can be made for any occasion from birthdays and holiday celebrations to a casual weeknight dinner.

Reflecting on my first experience eating jollof rice, I now see that the familiarity I felt was the thread between ancestral and descendant recipes. Jollof rice didn't just evolve throughout Africa but also in the Americas. I grew up enjoying foods like jambalaya and red rice, which mirror jollof in their preparation and community—offsprings rooted in the transatlantic migration and the ingenuity of my ancestors.

I am comforted by these connective tissues. And I now make jollof rice often—this recipe represents my journey to a one-pot jollof rice that will leave flavor memories that live rent-free in your head.

Regional Variations of Jollof Rice

I've been glued to the social banter questioning who has the best jollof rice, a harmonious blend of rice, tomatoes, and spices beloved in West Africa and beyond. Jollof rice is believed to have originated from the Wolof people in Senegal and Gambia. It has since evolved into variations found across the African continent, but at its core it’s stewed rice in a concentrated broth of tomatoes, onions, curry powder, and peppers.

Nigerian jollof is prepared with long-grain parboiled rice. It has less tomatoes and is heavy on hot peppers. It’s simmered over a prolonged time to build a smoky, roasted flavor and aroma—it’s traditionally cooked over an open fire to add a uniquely irresistible smoky flavor.

The Ghanaian version calls for aromatic basmati or jasmine rice to perfume the dish and enhance the tomato flavor. Long-grain white rice is preferred, as the rice kernels stay separate when cooked, providing the perfect canvas for the bold tomato flavor to shine through. And while the spices in the rice are more subdued, it’s often topped with a chili sauce called shito that adds a satisfying kick of heat.

Tips and Tricks for Making Jollof Rice

The art of making jollof rice is like a complex dance of timing—you have to build flavor while preserving texture (no one wants mushy rice). I've learned that achieving both is key to creating the perfect pot of jollof. Here are my tips to help you along:

Thoroughly rinse the rice. Rinse the rice under cool running water until it runs clear to remove all starchy residue.
The deeper the red, the better. I intentionally pick out the deepest red bell peppers and tomatoes at the grocery store to create the reddest pepper stew base for the rice.
Allow the pepper stew base to reduce uncovered. This allows the moisture to escape and concentrate the flavors. It will splatter quite a bit, so use a splatter guard or a lid set ajar.
Add the chicken stock last. Cook the onions and pepper stew base, and then add the rice before you add the chicken stock. Depending on how much liquid the stew base has, you can decide to use more or less chicken stock so that you don’t end up with rice that’s too wet. Add enough stock so that it is level with the rice,
Cover the pot with foil and a lid. Tightly covering the pot of jollof with foil to trap moisture that’ll steam the rice. I prefer to cook the rice in the oven, not on the stove top, for the even distribution of heat—you don’t need to keep an eye on it as you would on the stove top.

Delicious and Bold Rice Recipes

Dirty Rice with Shrimp
Tomato Rice
Kimchi Fried Rice
Jamaican Rice and Peas

I do not remove the seeds from the scotch bonnet because jollof rice is supposed to be spicy; however, you are welcome to remove them if you’d like to make it less spicy.

Betapac or Blue Mountain Country curry powder are two brands that I would recommend.

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How to cook rice essay sample, example.

Gordon Ramsay is one of the most famous chefs in the world. He is popular on television and for his restaurants. Ramsay is also known for being a great teacher. He makes videos on how to prepare relatively simple dishes, such as rice. His method of cooking is as follows: 1) Get 400 grams of rice (preferably basmati). 2) Use cold water to rinse the dust and starch from the rice. 3) Place the rice in a pan. Add some cardamom pods (broken open), star anise, salt, and pepper. 4) Add one and a half part cold water. 5) Get the lid on, bring to a boil, then turn the heat down to let it steam for about 8-10 minutes. 6) Keep the lid on throughout the steaming process. 7) Get the cardamom pods and star anise out, and use a fork to separate the rice a bit by running the fork through the rice a few times. 8) The rice is ready to be served (Shukla, Pragati). This recipe makes for a fragrant and downright delicious basmati rice dish. Serving curry on top of this rice adds to its tastiness.

Next up, the magazine Fine Cooking has its own take on cooking white rice. Though basmati is the king of rice, white rice can be tasty as well. According to Fine Cooking, to prepare the perfect white rice, these are the steps: 1) Rinse the rice a few times in cold water to remove starch, talc, and to make it less sticky. You can also opt for soaking the rice for 30 minutes. 2) Add water to the rice in a pan. “As a general rule, use 1-1/2 to 1-3/4 cups of water per cup of long-grain white rice, but you may need to experiment a little to find the amount you like best. Keep in mind that more water gives you softer, stickier rice—great for stir-fries. Less water results in firmer rice, a good style for rice salads” (King, Niloufer). 3) Put the pan of rice on gentle heat with a tight-fitting pot lid. 4) Let the rice cook and steam for about 12 minutes. By this time, the water should have been absorbed into the rice and the rice should be firm. 5) Have the rice sit off the heat with the lid on for 5-30 minutes. This allows all the layers of the rice to be as fluffy as the rest, as the moisture redistributes. This may not be as tasty Ramsay’s rice, but it ensures that the rice is uniform and fluffy (King, Niloufer).

Lastly, we have Martha Stewart’s recommended method of cooking rice. She also has a recipe for cooking white rice. Her style of making rice is quite simple. It also does not have much seasoning, besides salt. The process of making this variety of rice does not have many steps: 1) Bring 1/ ½ cups of water to a boil in an average pan. 2) Stir in 1 cup of long-grain white rice and ½ teaspoon of salt, and bring it to a boil again on medium-high heat. 3) Take down the heat to make the rice simmer. Cover the pan. 4) Cook the rice for about 16 to 18 minutes, until the rice is tender and all the water is gone. 5) Take it away from the heat and allow it to steam while covered for 10 minutes. 6) Run a fork through the rice to fluff it up. 7) Now it is ready to be served (“Perfect White Rice”).

To summarize, three different methods of cooking rice was examined: Gordon Ramsay’s fragrant basmati rice, Fine Cooking’s scientific way of preparing white rice, and Martha Stewart’s simple method of cooking white rice. Each way has its own merits and only self-experimentation will determine your favorite.

Works Cited

Shukla, Pragati. “How to Cook Light, Fluffy and Delicious Rice, According to Gordon Ramsay.” NDTV Food, 6 Oct. 2015, food.ndtv.com/food-drinks/how-to-cook-light-fluffy-and-delicious-rice-according-to-gordon-ramsay-759895.

King, Niloufer. “How to Cook Rice Perfectly – How-To.” FineCooking, 13 July 2017, www.finecooking.com/article/how-to-cook-rice-perfectly.

“Perfect White Rice.” Martha Stewart, Martha Stewart, 16 Mar. 2019, www.marthastewart.com/347002/perfect-white-rice.

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My Favorite Food Essay

500 words essay on my favorite food.

In order to perform well in life, our body needs energy. We get this energy from the food we eat. Without food, there will be no life. In today’s world, there are so many dishes available worldwide. Food comes in a wide variety all around the world. Dosa, Paneer, Naan, Chapati, Biryani, and more Indian delicacies are available. We are also offered western cuisines such as noodles, pasta, burgers, fries, pizzas and more dominating the food industry. In my favourite food essay, I will tell you about the food I like eating the most.

My Favorite Food

As the world is advancing day by day, it is becoming easier to get access to many kinds of food at our doorstep. Every day, we all want to consume great and delicious cuisine. There are many different varieties of food accessible all throughout the world. We all like different foods, however, my personal favourite is burgers. I have eaten many cuisines but my favourite food is definitely a burger. I cannot resist myself when it comes to burgers.

Burgers are one of the most convenient and easiest foods to eat on the fly when we’re in a hurry. We can have a burger at any time of day, whether it’s breakfast, lunch, or supper, and maybe some fries and a Coke to go with it. Many restaurants are well-known for making their speciality burgers in a particular style. Preparation changes from one establishment to the next. But what exactly makes a burger taste so good? They will taste vary depending on where you go, but they are all built the same. It is made up of a bun, a ground meat patty, and various toppings like cheese, onion slices, lettuce, and other sauces.

They are so soft yet crunchy, fresh and juicy that I love eating them. Even though there are many kinds of burgers, my favourite one is a chicken burger. The chicken patty gives the burger a juicy taste and it tingles my taste buds every time I eat it. I can already smell and taste it in my mouth as soon as I walked inside McDonald’s or any other restaurant that serves chicken burgers. As soon as I take a huge mouthful of it, I forget about any problems or troubles that are going on in the outer world and concentrate my entire concentration just on my chicken burger.

I love eating a burger which is filled with cheese and vegetables . The more vegetables you add, the better it tastes. My personal favourite is lettuce. It gives the burger the right amount of freshness and crunchiness.

I always eat my burger with ketchup. Most importantly, the thing I love about eating burgers is that I get to eat French fries along with them. They work as a great side to the dish and also make my stomach full.

Even though I liked eating a burger from a famous fast food joint, nothing beats the chicken burger my mother makes at home. She prepares everything from scratch, even the burger. Thus, it is extremely fresh and healthy too.

I know and feel that burgers have the great flavour and taste that would make anyone’s stomach pleased after a long day of work. I can tell by the reactions on people’s faces when they order their preferred burger variant. Overall, I don’t believe any other fast food will taste as good as a chicken burger. It’s just difficult to think that something will triumph in the future. As a result, I consider my favourite dish to be the best ever created.

A Great Variety

Perhaps the great thing about burgers is the great variety they offer. It has options for all people, who prefer vegetarian, non-vegetarian and even vegans. Thus, you can select the patty of your burger and dive right in.

There are a large number of burger joints being started in every corner of the city, each serving a variety of their own specialised and self-curated recipes. Burgers that are health-friendly and a go-to with a diet are also being introduced by these newly upcoming burger places. There are a lot many burger cafes that give their customers the choice to create their own burgers by providing them with a choice between patties, fillings, veggies, sauces as well as the number of burger layers they want.

Even though my personal favourite is a chicken burger, I also enjoy eating cheeseburgers and vegetable burgers. For me, all burgers taste delicious. Whenever we go out to eat with friends , I always order a burger.

My friends who do not eat non-vegetarian also eat burgers thanks to the great variety it offers. When we order food at home, we make sure to offer all kinds of burgers from cheeseburgers to chicken burgers, so that we get a taste of everything in our meal. Thus, I love burgers and their great variety makes it better.

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Conclusion of My Favorite Food Essay

Even though my favourite food is a burger, I enjoy other foods as well like Pizza and Pasta. However, I feel when it comes to eating daily, nothing beats homemade food. The food we eat daily is what helps us gain energy. We cannot eat our favourite food daily as it will become boring then, but our staple food is something we enjoy eating on an everyday basis.

FAQ of My Favorite Food Essay

Question 1: Why do we need food?

Answer 1: We need food because it provides nutrients, energy for activity, growth. Similarly, all functions of the body like breathing, digesting food, and keeping warm are made possible because of food. It also helps in keeping our immune system healthy.

Question 2: Should you eat your favourite food all the time?

Answer 2: No, never. Favourite foods are meant to be enjoyed when there is any special occasion, or when you are tired of your regular homemade food. Eating too much of your favourite food will make your taste buds adjust to it and eventually, it will not remain our favourite. Excess of anything is bad and the same goes for our favourite food. Thus, we must eat it occasionally so that it remains our favourite.

Question 3: Is fast food healthy? Should we not consume fast food at all?

Answer 3: Fast food is often high in calories, sodium, and harmful fat, with one meal frequently providing enough for a whole day. It is also deficient in nutrients and nearly devoid of fruit, vegetables, and fibre. That doesn’t mean you should completely avoid fast food. It is feasible to eat fast food without jeopardising your healthy diet. Take advantage of the nutritious side dishes available at many fast-food places. Look for meals that include lean proteins, vegetables, and fibre, and avoid anything that is supersized.

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Two large serving plates presented on a table.

There’s No Meal Better (or Longer) Than an Italian Sunday Lunch

The languorous feast isn’t the mainstay of the country’s culture that it once was. We talked to five creative people keeping this beloved tradition alive.

Rice with broad beans and dill pesto, and veal meatballs with mint, served for a meal at the Milanese home of Nina Yashar, the founder of Nilufar gallery, on Feb. 18, 2024. Credit... Danilo Scarpati

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By Frank Bruni

Interviews by Laura May Todd

May 13, 2024

T’s May 19 Travel issue is dedicated to pasta in Italy, diving deep into the culinary traditions, regional variations and complicated history of the country’s national symbol.

WHEN STEFANO SECCHI was growing up in Dallas, the end of every school year meant the beginning of a great adventure. His parents, intent on maintaining a connection with their relatives in Italy, put him and his two brothers on a plane, and off they flew to Sardinia, where the sprawling Secchi clan clustered around and tended to the family farm. He remembers the sheep and cows that grazed on the hillsides, the tomatoes, wild fennel and zucchini that grew in such abundance. He remembers the long sunny days and the nearby sea. But more than any of that, he remembers the Sunday meal.

What an epic production it was. What a labor of extraordinary love. His nonna, Gavina Secchi, would commence her work at dawn and, by the time many or all of his seven aunts and uncles and their families gathered at the table around 2 or 3 p.m., everything was ready: the local cheeses and salumi with which they started; the endive, radicchio or arugula that came next; the culurgiones, a hearty, rustic dish of pasta shells that were stuffed with potato, mint and pecorino and nestled in either a tomato sauce or goat butter; the meat, usually lamb or wild boar or suckling pig. The eating and the talking went on for four, five, six hours, and he’d lose count of “how many bottles of wine and how many incredible stories and how many fights over politics” there were. “We sometimes wouldn’t finish until 9 p.m.,” he told me. “It was crazy.” And blissful.

And now, a fading image in a mental scrapbook, a relic from a distant past.

Secchi, the 42-year-old chef and a co-owner of the Michelin-starred Italian restaurant Rezdôra in Manhattan, said that when Gavina Secchi died at the age of 96 a little less than a decade ago, the lavish Sunday lunches vanished with her. But they were on life support even beforehand, as members of the Secchi clan, like so many other Italians, got educations, moved into such professions as banking and academia, left their rural setting for urban ones and scattered to different cities: Milan, Turin, Rome. “Nobody wanted to work with their hands anymore,” he said. And nobody had the kind of life — rooted firmly in one community, hitched to predictable rhythms — that allowed for a weekly gathering of so many relatives over such laboriously prepared food for so many hours.

The Secchis’ story is the story of many Italians, and I’m pained to tell it because it’s the eulogy for a tradition — il pranzo della domenica, or “Sunday lunch” — that so colorfully, calorically and cacophonously mingles Italians’ trademark passions: family, food and endless conversation. Sunday lunch also evokes one of my favorite Italian phrases, “il piacere della tavola,” which strictly means “the pleasure of the table” (or of the sit-down meal) and has no English analogue because, well, Americans and Brits don’t know that pleasure the way Italians do. Does anyone?

I’m half-Italian so I guess I half know it, and I can recall Sundays when my own nonna, Adelina Bruni, who immigrated to the suburbs of New York City from southern Italy, turned her kitchen or dining room table into a chaos of Italian staples, Italian delicacies and anything in the refrigerator that might plump up the feast and everyone partaking of it. It was like some glutton’s version of a garage sale. She put out a lasagna as inexhaustible as her affection. She put out mozzarella balls, eggplant, calamari, chicken cutlets. It wasn’t so much a thoughtfully coursed meal as an act of emotional blackmail: You couldn’t get up and go home when there were so many cutlets left and a tray of cannoli and biscotti to come. You couldn’t abandon this one sacred space in a week and a life so otherwise frenzied.

Sacred because it elevated your kin above everyone else who competed for your attention, and sacred because Sunday lunch came on the Lord’s Day, when you put aside your usual work and your overarching ambitions, when you turned away from what you had to do for your material needs and tended instead to your spirit. Mass in the morning: That salved your soul. Linguine in the early afternoon: That did an even better job of it. And the overlapping voices of generations of your family keeping its stories alive and its culinary heritage intact: Those did the best job of all.

But Sunday lunch has changed because Italy has changed — in some ways for the better, in other ways for the busier. Many, many more Italian women work outside the home than in the past — the number grew last year to more than half of Italian women, an all-time high — and that means many two-career couples without the time or energy to assemble a weekly banquet. The size of Italian families has also shrunk significantly over the past half-century, to the point where the average Italian household is now under 2.3 people, and that means fewer relatives to assemble for a weekly catch-up. And while Italy was once a country that shut down almost completely on Sundays — good luck finding an open hardware store, even an open pharmacy — that’s less true now. There are merchants who need to show up for their jobs and can’t linger for hours over a midday meal.

At this point, Sunday lunch “falls under the umbrella of ultraromanticized stereotypes that foreigners — and some foreign media — seem to associate with our lifestyle and cuisine and find reassuring and colorful,” Laura Lazzaroni, a prominent Italian cookbook author and consultant, told me. Those outsiders swoon to the sexist myth that “all grandmas in Italy spend two days in the kitchen bent over a steaming pot of ragù,” she said.

“It hasn’t been this way for many years, especially in the north,” she added. “We’re not frozen in time, thank God.”

Two stacks of plates on a table surrounded by plants with a stack of pastries and an array of fruit.

But they aren’t fully thawed, either. Alice Rossi, a tour guide in the wealthy (and gastronomically splendiferous) northern Italian city of Parma, told me that Sunday lunch “hasn’t really gone away. When it’s still possible to do it, it’s special.” Thirty-seven years old, she’s not married and doesn’t have kids, and the same is true of her 28-year-old sister, who creates social media content. The two of them still live close to their parents’ Parma home, but they work hard, they like to travel, they have people to see outside of town. “We’re always in a hurry,” she said. “For my generation, my friends, it’s much, much easier to decide to do other things on Sunday.”

But when she and her sister do visit their parents for a meal, it’s likely to be Sunday lunch — and to include indulgences all its own: a bottle of wine fancier than the usual ones, fresh rather than dried pasta, a carefully chosen meat or fish to be grilled and eaten after that, cake and brandy or a local liqueur at the end. Sometimes it’s just the four of them and, while that’s a smaller group than at her grandparents’ table decades ago, “the beautiful aspect is that the meaning of it hasn’t really changed,” she said. It’s an assertion of closeness and a moment of stillness pushing back at all the dynamics pulling everyone apart.

LIKE EVERYTHING ELSE about Italian cuisine, Sunday lunch varies greatly from region to region, even from province to province. There’s no one menu, no requisite dish. But it’s usually more courses than a typical meal, with two of those courses — pasta followed by protein — pretty much nonnegotiable. In the south, the pasta will likely have a tomato sauce and could be baked, while the protein might well be fish. Italians to the north might instead opt for fresh pasta with a filling — ravioli, agnolotti — and then a kind and quantity of meat more extravagant than everyday fare.

Sunday lunch has also survived in new incarnations. Elizabeth Minchilli, the 61-year-old author of “The Italian Table: Creating Festive Meals for Family and Friends” (2019) and several other books on Italian food and style, said that it’s more and more common for Italian families to do what she, her husband and their two daughters often do in Rome — they eat out on Sunday afternoon. “Restaurants are closed on Sunday evening because they’re open for Sunday lunch,” she said, and those restaurants expect whole families eating multiple courses at a designated time. “You really have to reserve ahead,” she added. When she calls to do that, “They’ll say, ‘L’ora di pranzo?’” (“Lunchtime?”) “And I’ll say, ‘Si!’ Everyone knows it’s 1 o’clock. And if you show up at 1:30, nobody cares. It’s Italy.”

And in Italy, people “stop everything for the sake of getting everybody together at the table for a long meal,” she said. “Even if you’re on a diet. Even if you’re not hungry. You still do it.” The streets of Rome tell her as much. At 1 p.m. on Sunday, they’re empty of locals, she said. Silent. But come early evening, several of the main arteries fill with overfull Romans burning off all those Sunday lunch calories with a stroll. “You can barely walk because everybody does everything at the same time. They’re all eating. Then they’re all napping. Then they’re all walking.”

Some 360 miles southeast of Rome, in the Baroque city of Lecce in Puglia, Gianna Greco, 57, still does her family’s Sunday lunch at home and still does it the way her forebears did. Because her nonna sprinkled toasted breadcrumbs atop pasta as a cheap alternative to Parmesan, she does, too, even though she can afford the real thing. She’d rather stick to a script passed from one generation to the next. So Greco, who owns and runs a local cooking school with her daughter, Maya Ciraci, 28, makes the meal’s bread with the same sourdough starter that her mother used. She sets the table the same way.

“No paper, no plastic,” she told me during a recent Zoom call as her daughter, beside her, nodded vigorously to emphasize the point. “Old plates, old glasses. It’s very important!” Suddenly, she shot up and disappeared from the frame, to return seconds later holding something white, crinkled and floppy. It was one of the linen napkins that have been a fixture of Sunday lunches since she was a little girl — since before then, actually. Our Zoom connection wasn’t such that I got a good look at it. But I could see the threads of continuity.

“We need a time to remember our traditions, our culture, our life,” she said. Sunday lunch is when she does just that. Sunday lunch is for just that — and for a kind of healing in increasingly short supply. “You can fight with your family,” she said. “You can argue. But if you sit at the table together, everything is fine. With the food and the wine, everything becomes clearer.”

30, musician, Milan

On Sundays, my mom always used to cook couscous. Tunisian couscous is red and a little bit spicy — unlike Moroccan couscous, which is yellow — and you can have it with fish or meat. I’m really simple when it comes to food. One of my favorite dishes she makes is ojja, which is eggs and tomato. In Tunisia, we call it the poorest dish. My mom lives with me, so most nights it’s me and her. Every day is like a Sunday lunch with my mom. When I was growing up, we usually had Italian food during the week. She’d make dishes like pasta quattro formaggi (four-cheese pasta) or spaghetti with seafood. But she puts her own touch on everything — even her pasta is a little bit spicy.

[On this Sunday] it was Ramadan [so, instead of lunch] we had [the iftar meal to break] our fast at sunset. First thing, we had dates and water. I don’t like to ruin my appetite before the main meal but, after the dates and water, I love to have bread with cheese and honey. We ordered food from my favorite Moroccan restaurant in Milan [the city is home to a large North African community] and brought it back to my friend’s apartment. We had couscous, a sweet and savory tagine with beef and prunes and tea. I was with artists from my label, Sto Records, who are my dear friends. There was Axell, who’s a Senegalese rapper, and Kiid, an Italian producer, and Digital Astro, who’s an amazing artist. He’s Moroccan but was born in Italy.

I just came back from doing the hajj to Mecca in Saudi Arabia and bought some traditional thobe garments. They’re really minimal and elegant — as well as supercomfy. I brought some for my friends to wear. In those few minutes before iftar, our brains feel like they’re missing something, so we talk about a thousand different things. For the first few minutes after we broke the fast, though, everyone was quiet and concentrating. But then we started talking again, which turned into a freestyle rap battle between us.

Brunello Cucinelli

70, designer, solomeo.

For us, lunch is a very, very serious thing. It’s part of our culture. Even on normal days at the company, we stop at 1 p.m. for an hour and 30 minutes. Twenty percent of people go home. The rest eat at the company restaurant. Every day there’s pasta, or a vegetarian meal or rice. But the table is always set very nicely, and there’s always good olive oil. Unfortunately, we can’t serve wine anymore.

I come from a peasant culture. When I was younger, Sunday lunch in the countryside [of Castel Rigone in rural Umbria] was like any other day. There were 13 of us: my grandparents, their three sons and their wives and us five grandchildren. We’d wake up very early to tend to the land and the animals. Lunch at noon was sacred. On Sunday it was pasta, normally with a mixed ragù of pork and chicken. After the pasta, we’d eat the meat that was cooked in the sauce. Every evening as the sun went down there was soup. It was normally broth with some pasta, beans or chickpeas and a little bit of salt. Until I got married at 29, I had soup every night.

Now on Sundays I go to Mass in the morning, then stop to have a chat with my friends at the little bar in the village, Il Circolo della Filarmonica di Solomeo. I have an aperitif — an Aperol spritz — focaccia, potato chips, olives and taralli and then go home to eat. I have a rule not to come back before 1 p.m., so I don’t have to help set the table. My whole family — my wife, Federica, and I, our two daughters, Camilla and Carolina, and their families — lives in the village, so we all meet at home for lunch.

[At this meal, like at most of our Sunday lunches] while the pasta was cooking, we ate bread with oil — a lot of oil is important. We make our own from an olive grove that was planted by Benedictine monks around 1600. Then there were artichokes and fava beans, which were in season. There was torta al testo [an Umbrian flatbread] with prosciutto. The torta is made with water and flour and cooked on a hot stone; farmers in the region used to make it every day because bread was only made once a week on Mondays. Then came the first course, rigatoni with tomato, mozzarella and basil — in any Italian dish, there should be a maximum of three flavors. For dessert, Camilla made tiramisù with chocolate chips.

Afterward, my wife and granddaughters went out to look for wild asparagus. We ate it the next day for lunch with spaghetti.

Alessandro Sartori

57, designer, bielmonte.

Rifugio Monte Marca is at the top of a mountain [in Oasi Zegna nature park in the Biellese Alps], about [5,300 feet above sea level]. There’s no other way to reach it from the bottom of the hill besides a single-seat wooden chairlift built in the 1950s. It was snowing the day of this lunch. The chef came from Da Vittorio, a three-Michelin-star restaurant in Brusaporto, a little town between Bergamo and Brescia. We started with vitello tonnato [thinly sliced veal topped with tuna sauce]. Then we had paccheri alla Vittorio [tube-shaped pasta with tomato sauce], which he cooked in front of us in a big pan next to the table, adding Parmigiano-Reggiano to make it denser. Then we had a filet of Fassona [a type of local cattle] cooked in red Piedmontese wine — it was so soft, you didn’t need a knife. There were a lot of interesting desserts, specialties of this region, like bunet, a pudding made with amaretti and chocolates. And torroncino, which is a mix of hazelnuts, honey, sugar, egg whites, vanilla and orange zest.

When I was growing up, Rifugio Monte Marca was one of my favorite places to have lunch. We used to go there on Sundays after cross-country skiing. My mom would pick us up around 1:30 and we’d come here to eat Piedmontese cuisine. The menu was often a little appetizer like vitello tonnato, a good, freshly made pasta with regional ingredients like truffle or mushroom and a beautiful main course of meat cooked in wine sauce with polenta. Most of the winter cuisine in this region is made with red Piedmontese wine — Gattinara, Nebbiolo, Fara. I live now in Milan [about a two-hour drive southeast], but every time I go back to Monte Marca, I have a strong emotional connection.

If I’m at home in Milan, I like to cook risotto [which is a traditional Lombardian dish] for my friends. I often work Saturday, so Sunday’s my day for lunch. It’s usually the same group of people. The type of risotto changes throughout the seasons. In the spring, I use herbs. In the summer, I try to be lighter, so I use lemon thyme. When you get to autumn and winter, it’s truffles and cheeses like toma. I’m an autumn person.

I can’t forget to mention the importance of dressing for Sunday lunch. [Even as a child] I was properly dressed. At 10 years old, I was asking my mom if I could wear my blue blazer — I had a cotton one in the summer and a wool-cashmere one in the winter. We still dress up properly for Sunday lunch. It doesn’t need to be formal — maybe it’s a nice roll-neck or a cashmere [sweater] with a shirt. [At the lunch on Monte Marca] each one of us wanted to look good and have a beautiful moment. It’s not enough to show up — you have to participate, too.

Marie-Louise Sciò

47, hotelier, rome.

We usually do dinner at my place, so it was nice to do lunch. I love to host and have friends over but usually it’s at nighttime. Everyone was invited quite early, at noon, and we ended after aperitivo, which was around 6 or 7. It was a group that doesn’t usually mingle together. I always like to mix it up and have different kinds of people come. I think we spoke about everything from books to philosophy to just joking around.

Tessie, a wonderful lady who works at my house, assisted in making lasagna with spinach, which is a favorite dish of mine. It’s one of the few things I really enjoy making. Instead of red sauce, it’s with spinach, so it’s very healthy. Then we had vegetables — cabbage, broccolini, peppers, carrots — with ginger and sautéed potatoes. I prefer to drink [organic] wines. Everyone in Italy’s really into that. We drank Notturno dei Calanchi, a pinot nero, and Falesia, a chardonnay, both from Paolo e Noemia D’Amico.

I always have a good playlist. After lunch, we moved to the living room for coffee and dessert, which was tiramisù. Some people just hung out on the couches, nearly napping.

Growing up, the lunches I remember best were at the Posta Vecchia [Sciò’s country house turned hotel on the coast outside of Rome]. The menu always featured what was available in the garden. March and April were heavy on artichokes. (Romans love artichokes fried whole or braised with olive oil, white wine and mint.) In the fall, we’d have pumpkin risotto. But I grew up on pasta. That’s what we ate most of the time: pasta al pesto or pasta al pomodoro; all the Roman pastas, carbonara, amatriciana, cacio e pepe; or this fettuccine that people don’t make anymore with cream, peas and ham — that was a real treat.

Sundays were always a big production. La Posta Vecchia was a place where we invited a lot of friends. My mom’s an artist and always knew really interesting people — there were writers, photographers, choreographers and dancers. I remember once walking into the living room and there was my mother doing tai chi with Luciano Pavarotti. She was teaching him. I’ll never forget that. Having these lunches with these incredible people was like looking into this gilded world. As a kid, you don’t necessarily follow those conversations, but they definitely seep in.

Nina Yashar

66, gallerist, art dealer and curator, milan.

When my family moved from Tehran to Milan in 1963, my parents stayed very traditional at home. Usually, we only ate Persian dishes — khoresht lubia sabz [green-bean stew], bademjan polo [eggplant rice], khoresht fesenjan [chicken-and-pomegranate stew]; my mom still makes them. She’s the only one of us who knows how. We all eat together once a week. It’s important to the Persian community to stay together. Usually at our weekly lunches, it’s my parents, me, my husband, my sister and my daughter and nephew, when they’re here in Milan. Sometimes one or two close friends, but only people familiar with the family.

For this lunch, I invited 16 designers [represented by my gallery, Nilufar ]. We’ve never experimented with sitting all together so intimately to eat and talk. It was very revealing. It would’ve been normal to feel competition or antagonism. But at a certain point, someone said, “It’s strange, there’s such a collaborative atmosphere. We all work with the gallery but it doesn’t feel competitive.” Unexpectedly, it was very harmonious — nobody talked about work. Food’s the biggest gesture of love. It connects people.

I don’t usually cook, but I like to experiment with mixtures of food. I’ve always eaten sabzi polo [a Persian rice dish]. So one day four years ago, I decided to create a conversation between Iran and Italy. I mixed Italian basil pesto into the rice with dill and fava beans. People love it. They’ve never eaten anything like it because it doesn’t exist. It’s my invention.

Everything else at the lunch was made by Moise [Yashar’s full-time cook]. I don’t like to have food made outside of my home. We chose all the best ingredients. The fruit, vegetables and meat were from Terroir, a small shop in front of our house. We buy 85 percent of our food there. We call it the jewel of Milan. On the menu were veal and vegetable spring rolls, steamed veal and minced prawn shumai, meatballs with mint, finely chopped and sautéed Ligurian artichokes. And for dessert, chiacchiere and fritelle [sweet fried pastries traditionally eaten before Lent] because it was Carnevale. I always pick food from different cultures. When I like something, I share it.

These interviews have been edited and condensed.

Frank Bruni is a professor of journalism and public policy at Duke University, the author of the book "The Age of Grievance" and a contributing Opinion writer. He writes a weekly email newsletter . Instagram Threads More about Frank Bruni

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How to Make Nigerian Red Stew & Rice
Instructions. Cut tomatoes, peppers, and onion into chunks. Set aside ¼ onion and add remaining produce to a blender with about ¼ cup of water. Blend until liquefied then set aside. Meanwhile, add enough oil to a large pot or skillet to coat the bottom of the pot over medium-high heat.
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Pour the rice in a sieve to drain out the hot water. Dip in cold water, then wash and drain. Meanwhile set some water to boil in a pot big enough to accommodate the rice bearing in mind that the rice will rise some more. The extent of rising depends on the type of rice and for how long it was parboiled. Add the parboiled rice and salt (optional).
Nigerian Rice and Stew (Classic Vintage Nigerian Meal)
Bring to boil for 15minutes. # Heat up two cooking spoons of oil and fry beef till brown. # Chop onions and heat up 1 cooking spoon of oil and fry the onions. # Pour the boiled tomato and pepper into the oil and fry for 7 minutes. # Add 2 maggi cubes, salt, dry pepper, curry and thyme and stir. Allow to simmer for 5 minutes on low heat.
How To Make Beef Stew And Rice: The Easy Way!
Step 1: Sear the Beef for Richness. Step 2: Sauté the Vegetables for Depth. Step 3: Deglaze the Pot for Intensity. Step 4: Simmer for Tender Perfection. Step 5: Cook the Rice for a Perfect Pair. Step 6: Thicken the Stew for Richness. Step 7: Serve and Savor the Culinary Delight. Tips for a Perfect Beef Stew and Rice.
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Step 3. Return chicken to pot and stir in rice, marjoram, rosemary (if using), 1 Tbsp. parsley (if using), and 1½ cups water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, partially cover pot, and simmer ...
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Cook the Rice. In a pot, bring water to a boil and add a pinch of salt. Add the rinsed rice to the boiling water and reduce the heat to low. Cover the pot with a lid and simmer the rice for 15-20 minutes or until cooked through and fluffy. Once cooked, fluff the rice with a fork and set aside. Prepare the Stew.
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Add onion mixture (made in step 1) to the pot. Bring to a boil, then turn down heat to a low simmer. Cover pot and simmer for 30 to 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. While stew is simmering, prepare the rice: In a medium saucepan, combine water and rice. Bring to a boil, turn down heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove bay leaves from stew.
Nigerian Jollof Rice Recipe
Add the rinsed rice and butter, stir, cover with a double piece of foil/baking or parchment paper and put a lid on the pan—this will seal in the steam and lock in the flavor. Turn down the heat and cook on the lowest possible heat for 30 minutes, stirring half way through. Stir rice—taste and adjust as required.
Nigerian Jollof Rice
Then stir in garlic, ginger, and bay leaves—leave to cook for 2 more minutes. Add the blended sauce and allow the pepper to cook until the water is reduced and the sauce become thick —about 10 to 15 minutes. Season with thyme, curry powder, bouillon cubes, salt, and pepper to taste. Cook for another 2 to 5 minutes.
How To Cook Nigerian Stew: A Step-by-step Guide
Stir well and let it cook for another 5-10 minutes. Add about 1-2 cups of water, depending on how thick you want your stew to be. Stir well and let it cook for another 10-15 minutes until the meat is tender. Taste your stew and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Your Nigerian stew is now ready to be served with rice, yam, or plantain.
How to Make Ofada Stew (Nigerian Ofada Sauce Recipe)
Instructions. In separate pot, saute the sliced red onions in palm oil on medium heat til the onions turn slightly brown. Add in the cleaned smoked dried fish, the shrimp and continue to cook for another 10 minutes. Add in the reduced pepper paste, turn the heat down to low-medium, and continue cooking for 10 minutes.
Jollof Rice (Ghana Style) • Curious Cuisiniere
For the rice. Rinse your rice and start some water boiling (for soaking the rice in step 7). (The rice is washed to remove excess starchiness, which can make the final dish gloopy or sticky.) To make the stew base, heat the oil in a heavy bottomed saucepan. Fry the onions until golden brown.
THE MOST POPULAR FOOD: WHITE RICE AND STEW
For the stew, heat the groundnut oil or palm oil in a medium heat in a pot. ...
Wors Stew With Rice
Stir in water, cover, and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Once the water starts to boil, without lifting the lid, reduce the heat to medium low and let cook for 20 minutes. After remove the pot from the heat and let sit for 10 minutes. Use a fork and fluff the rice and enjoy!
Easy Stew Beef and Rice Recipe
Heat a large pot or skillet over medium heat. Add vegetable oil. When oil is hot, add beef. Lightly brown beef chunks on all sides. Add onion and bell pepper; cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Stir in garlic, dried oregano, salt and pepper. Continue to cook for 2 minutes stirring occasionally.
HOW TO PREPARE RICE AND STEW
Once the water starts boiling pour in the parboiled rice and stir it properly. Cover the pot and let the rice cook very well remove from heat after testing for softness and set aside. Start preparing the stew. Wash the meat, put in a pot add in the curry, thyme, maggi and salt place on heat and let it steam. Add water in the meat pot and cover ...
Jollof Rice Recipe
Fry the onions: Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven (mine holds 3 quarts) or a heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Add the onions and fry for 2 to 3 minutes, until fragrant and the edges get a little brown. Scoop out about a third of the fried onions on a small plate or bowl, and set it aside.
Rice: My Favorite Food
Rice is also pretty easy to cook. All you need to do is pour the rice to a certain line inside the pressure cooker, pour water to another certain line inside the pressure cooker, and then choose the time on the pressure cooker, then press start. You will may hear a light whirring noise. That is normal.
How to Cook Rice Essay Sample, Example
2) Use cold water to rinse the dust and starch from the rice. 3) Place the rice in a pan. Add some cardamom pods (broken open), star anise, salt, and pepper. 4) Add one and a half part cold water. 5) Get the lid on, bring to a boil, then turn the heat down to let it steam for about 8-10 minutes.
Essay On Rice
Essay On Rice. Good Essays. 1319 Words. 6 Pages. Open Document. Salt stress results to stunted growth and reduced productivity of rice. Transcription factors like heat shock factors (HSFs) represents key controllers of stress adaptation. Moreover, heat shock factors of the group A and B are clearly established as thermal and non-thermal stress ...
Strategies for Essay Writing: Downloadable PDFs
Strategies for Essay Writing: PDFs Strategies for Essay Writing--Complete. description. Tips for Reading an Assignment Prompt. description. Asking Analytical Questions. description. Thesis. description. Introductions. description. What Do Introductions Across the Disciplines Have in Common? description. Anatomy Of a Body Paragraph.
Descriptive Essay About Rice
Descriptive Essay About Rice. Satisfactory Essays. 1753 Words. 8 Pages. Open Document. "I didn't know you'd be here, Y/N," YongGuk puts the box down. It's almost 4 p.m. and the smell of perfume, cigarettes and alcohol reaches you from where you're standing. He's obviously not thinking straight. Trying to act like you don't care, you roll your ...
My Favorite Food Essay for Students and Children
500 Words Essay On My Favorite Food. In order to perform well in life, our body needs energy. We get this energy from the food we eat. Without food, there will be no life. In today's world, there are so many dishes available worldwide. Food comes in a wide variety all around the world. Dosa, Paneer, Naan, Chapati, Biryani, and more Indian ...
There's No Meal Better (or Longer) Than an Italian Sunday Lunch
Rice with broad beans and dill pesto, and veal meatballs with mint, served for a meal at the Milanese home of Nina Yashar, the founder of Nilufar gallery, on Feb. 18, 2024.

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How To Make Beef Stew And Rice: The Easy Way!

Ingredients: The Foundation of Flavor

Step 1: Sear the Beef for Richness

Step 2: Sauté the Vegetables for Depth

Step 3: Deglaze the Pot for Intensity

Step 4: Simmer for Tender Perfection

Step 5: Cook the Rice for a Perfect Pair

Step 6: Thicken the Stew for Richness

Step 7: Serve and Savor the Culinary Delight

Tips for a Perfect Beef Stew and Rice

The Finishing Touch: Variations and Enhancements

Beyond the Ordinary: Beef Stew and Rice Reimagined

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