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Palm Oil Rice

This is a popular food made in Nigeria. It's commonly called MTN rice because of the colour after cooking the food that differentiates it from other forms of cooked rice. This uniqueness is as a result of the use of palm oil and the easy step in cooking it. It is so easy that even a new learner in cooking meals can easily make it. Students on campuses in Nigeria can never, ever do without having this recipe at least once a week on their menu.

This recipe always comes in handy whenever I fail to figure out what to cook on time, especially during school runs in the morning. What thrills me most about this food is that most individuals I know in Nigeria prefer it to other sophisticated jollof rice.

In this recipe, aside from the regular ingredients, I used carrots and green beans to garnish the food. This gave it a nice twist in aesthetics.

So, let's leave all the talking and go to my kitchen.

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These are the ingredients and quantities I used in this recipe

Ingredients

Palm oil. - 1 cup
Rice - five cups
Deboned smoked fish - 1 piece
Chicken - 200g
Crayfish - 1/2 cup
Mixed spices - 2tbsp
Seasoning cube - 4
Red and yellow scotch bonnet pepper - as desired
Onions - 1 medium size
Salt - to taste
Carrots and green beans - as desired

The following are the procedures in making the palm oil rice:

Procedure

Step 1

Parboil the rice, give it a quick wash, transfer it into a sieve to drain water and set it aside.

If you already have a brand of rice that is parboiled, just give it a wash maybe twice or thrice, drain and set it aside.

Step 2

Wash the chicken or any protein of your choice that needs to be cooked, season it with some of the mixed spices and onions, and add seasoning cube and salt to taste. Mix everything together until they are well combined and allow it to cook in its own juices for 5 minutes.

After five minutes, add a little water to cook the meat until it's a bit tender.

Step 3

Pound or blend the pepper and crayfish and set it aside (I did not make it smooth in order to enhance the look after cooking).

Chop the medium-sized onion and set it aside as well.

Step 4

Once steps 1-3 are done, then proceed to transfer the washed and drained rice into a cooking pot. Then add in the pounded pepper and crayfish, chopped onions, smoked fish, mixed spices, seasoning cubes, salt to taste, cooked and unfried chicken and the chicken stock. Then, add in the palm oil and some water. Give it a quick stir and adjust the taste if necessary.

Cover the pot and let it cook.

Step 5

Cook the food for about 25-30 minutes or until the rice is tender. Add in the already chopped carrots and green beans once you turn off the heat. Give it a quick stir to combine the carrots and green beans and leave it covered a bit before serving.

Our palm oil rice is ready!

Bon appétit!