Joloff Chicken and Rice

This well known, colourful West African dish is easy to prepare and very tasty. My first experience of this was in Kumasi in Ghana, in a small restaurant just off the town centre with a delightful poster on the wall. Although it didn't instil much confidence in the food at the time, it did bring about a few laughs, and we were told that the meaning was to suggest that you “live for today as you don't know what tomorrow brings”. Maybe it lost something in translation. 

 

The mats on the table are also West African – we bought them in a small village in Burkina Faso, where we could see the women weave mats and baskets. 

 

I baked the chicken legs in the oven before adding them to the stew, as I wanted to make sure that they were cooked through. 

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

2 chicken legs, skin removed

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tsp dried thyme

1 can chopped tomatoes

2 onions, chopped

200ml passata

1 chilli, finely chopped

150g rice

flavourful chicken stock

Rub the chicken with the garlic and set aside for 30 minutes. Bake at 200°C for around 20 minutes, until almost cooked. Meanwhile, sauté the onions in Fry Light until soft. Add the tinned tomato, chilli, passata, chicken legs and enough stock to just cover. Simmer for 10 minutes or until the rice and chicken are cooked through.