Nigerian Jollof Spaghetti
Overview
Jollof spaghetti applies the jollof method to pasta, and it is one of the most widely made contemporary dishes in Nigerian home kitchens. The pepper base is built exactly as it would be for rice, with blended tomato, tatashe and scotch bonnet reduced in oil with onion, ginger and garlic, and the spaghetti is finished in it so the strands take on the colour and the flavour rather than merely wearing it. Spaghetti arrived in Nigeria through mid twentieth century trade and has become one of the country's most eaten starches, particularly in urban households where it is quick and cheap. What Nigerians did with it is characteristic: rather than adopting Italian technique, they applied their own most important cooking method to it. The same has happened with jollof couscous, jollof penne and jollof noodles. It is weekday food rather than occasion food. Where jollof rice is the centrepiece of a party, jollof spaghetti is what gets made on a Tuesday, often with sausage or leftover chicken and whatever vegetables are in the house. It is served with eggs, fried plantain or chicken, and its status as a real Nigerian dish rather than a novelty is no longer in question among the people who eat it.
Ingredients
Dietary tags are provided by contributors as a guide, not verified by AFN, and they depend on the products you buy. If you have a serious allergy, check every ingredient yourself. Cooking, allergies and your own judgement
Directions
- 1
Boil the spaghetti, drain and set aside.
- 2
Blend the tomatoes, tatashe and scotch bonnet peppers into a smooth paste.
- 3
Fry the onions, garlic, ginger and sliced sausages in the olive oil.
- 4
Add the bay leaves, tomato paste, curry powder, thyme, paprika, all purpose seasoning, salt and seasoning cubes, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes.
- 5
Pour in the blended pepper mix and cook until the sauce thickens.
- 6
Add the chicken stock and simmer for 5 to 7 minutes.
- 7
Stir in the sliced bell peppers and julienned carrots and simmer for 5 minutes.
- 8
Add the cooked spaghetti and toss through the sauce.
- 9
Adjust the seasoning with salt and seasoning cubes.
- 10
Remove the bay leaves and serve hot with boiled eggs or chicken.
Africook’s Notes
Personal notes from Sobecooks- Reduce the pepper base properly before the spaghetti goes in. An underdone tomato base tastes sharp and raw, and no amount of seasoning fixes it.
- Undercook the spaghetti at the boil. It keeps softening in the sauce and overcooked pasta breaks up when tossed.
- Rinse the boiled spaghetti briefly in cold water and drain well if you are not using it immediately, so it does not clump.
- Add the vegetables near the end so they keep some bite against the soft pasta.
- Use a wide pan rather than a deep pot for the final toss, so the strands coat evenly rather than piling up.
Reviews
2 reviews
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Made this for lunch yesterday. I used 3 chopped Enterprise smoked viennas and 1/2 cup of blended red chillies since scotch bonnets are tricky to find in Soweto. The 1 cup of chicken stock wasn't quite enough when the sauce thickened, it started sticking to the pot so I added another 100ml of hot water. Otherwise really lekker recipe.
Tatashe is so hard to find here abeg, so I used regular red bell peppers with two scotch bonnets from the local shop. Fried smoked kielbasa with the curry powder and thyme before adding the tomato paste and pepper mix. It brought back memories of hostel days in Uni o, e sweet nonsense!