Simple Jollof Rice

Claire Wright

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In season now

Ingredients:

Rice (1 mug is enough for 4 people)

Chopped tomatoes (1 tin for 4) or tomato sauce (1 jar for 4)

Optional red pepper and onion, blended with the chopped tomatoes until smooth or thinly sliced/chopped

Optional red chilli (1/2-1 for 4 depending on how spicy you like your food, or just leave it out!)

Not made jollof rice before, or not ready to try the next steps? Start here!

Method:

Traditionally, the jollof sauce is made from blending tomatoes, peppers, chilli and onions. If you don’t have a blender but want to include all those ingredients, try frying finely sliced/diced onions and peppers in a little oil in the bottom of a large saucepan over medium heat until softened, stirring regularly (about 5-10 mins), then stirring in the chopped tomatoes or sauce. If you’ve blended the veg and chilli into a smooth sauce, pour this into the saucepan and bring to a simmer, then cook on a low heat for 5 mins.
Add the rice to the pan with the blended or softened veg and add water or stock (usually 1 mug rice + 2 mugs water makes perfect rice for 4, but since there is a fair amount of liquid in the tomato sauce, add only equal amounts of water and rice – so 1 mug rice and 1 mug water for 4).
Bring to the boil, then simmer for as long is it takes to cook the rice (check packet instructions), checking regularly and adding a little more water if it’s going dry and the rice isn’t fully cooked yet.

There is no need to go any further with this recipe until you are confident with it and feel up for the next step.

Engaging Kids

Kids who engage regularly with veg through veg-themed activities, such as arts and crafts, sensory experiences, growing and cooking are shown to be more likely to eat the veg they engage with. Encouraging kids to engage and play with veg is the handy first step to them developing a good relationship with veg and life-long healthy eating.

Kids in the kitchen

The eventual aim, if possible, is to get kids in the kitchen. Don’t worry, this doesn’t have to mean they are with you from start-to-end creating mess and rising stress levels! It can be as simple as giving them one small job (stirring, measuring, pouring, grating, chopping…) ideally involving veg. They can come in to do their little bit, and have fun with you for a few minutes. Getting them involved, making it playful and praising them plenty for their involvement, perhaps even serving it as dinner they “made”, makes it much more likely they will eat the food offered, not to mention teaching them important life skills. Find ideas, safety tips, videos and even a free chart in our Kids in the Kitchen section here.

Activities

While getting kids to interact with veggies for real and using their senses to explore them is best, encouraging hands off activities like arts & crafts, puzzles & games or at-home science experiments can be a great start, particularly for those who are fussier eaters or struggle with anything too sensory. Use these veg-themed activities as a stepping stone to interacting with the veg themselves. We have loads of crafty downloads here, puzzles here, and quirky science with veg here.

Sensory

Once you feel your child is ready to engage a little more, you can show them how to explore the veg you have on hand with their senses, coming up with playful silly descriptions of how a veg smells, feels, looks, sounds and perhaps even tastes. Find ideas, videos and some simple sensory education session ideas to get you started here.

Serving

The moments before food is offered can be a perfect opportunity for engagement that can help make it more likely a child will eat it! Giving children a sense of ownership in the meal can make a big difference to their feelings going into it and the pride they take in it. You know your child best, but if you aren’t sure where to start, we have some fun and simple ideas for easy roles you can give them in the serving process over here.

Claire Wright

Editor: After leaving Exeter University with a degree in English Literature, Claire worked in various fields ranging from youth work and charities to publishing, before starting up a food-focused website when her first child was born. After being asked to project manage the publication of Veg Power's Crowdfunder book, Claire came on board as a fully-fledged team member in 2018 to take on the role of Communications Manager, then Editor, looking after Veg Power's website, content, recipes and social media platforms.

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