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Photography: Sunday Balogun
BY FOLAKE SOLOMON
We are rolling out the drums in celebration of the UBA’s 70th anniversary and what better
way to celebrate than to set out a banquet that reflects the richness of our culture - as a global bank firmly rooted in Africa, but revered by the world. And so, we present to you, the regal West African dish, Jollof rice, a variant of the global staple – RICE!
Rice (Orytza Sativa) might have origi- nated from Asia and Africa but it has since grown in usage and versatility
- from sushi, to crisps, to puddings, and cakes with numerous cooking styles: Creole, French, Cajun, Italian, African, Indian, oriental, and so on, back to our very own West African all-time favourite rice dish, Jollof rice.
Jollof rice recipe is generally acclaimed to have emerged from the Senegam- bia region, a claim entrenched by the similarities between the name of Sen- egal’s lingua-franca ‘Wolof’ and the dish appellate ‘Jollof - rice’; however documentary evidence has not been provided to back this claim.
From the Gambia, to Senegal, to the deepest crevices of Cameroun, Jollof Rice is eaten with relish and gusto; all
in a variety of its own, and as countries abound in the region, so also can you count as much variants of the dish. Some of the more popular variants
are: ‘Ceebu-jën’ or ‘Thieb-ou-Djien’* among the Senegalese, and ‘riz au gras’ or ‘riz au poisson’ among the Francophone countries of the region. One theme rings true in all of these vari- ants - rice, chilli pepper, spices and the all-important tomato paste that gives it its scrumptious red colour.
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