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A one-pot dish of rice cooked in a tomato and pepper-based sauce with onion and stock, seasoned with a blend of West African spices and often served with chicken, beef or fish. Food historians trace its roots to Wolof cooking in the Senegambia region, from which its name likely derives, with rice-and-sauce cookery spreading east along the coast into what are now Ghana, Nigeria and beyond. Which country cooks the definitive version is a long-running, good-natured argument across West Africa, most visibly between Nigeria and Ghana.
Facts
Partially Attested
Origin Period, From (Year)Sourced to the subject's own accountThe Jolof (Wolof) Empire, whose cooking is credited as jollof rice's root tradition, is dated from around the 12th century CE; that marks the root tradition's era, not a firm date for the modern tomato-based one-pot dish, which most sources place considerably later. Origin RegionSourced to the subject's own accountSenegambia (Wolof / Jolof Empire, West Africa) 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Thieboudienne, Dishes Jollof rice is widely regarded as a derivative of thieboudienne: usually made with meat rather than fish, with the rice mixed into the other ingredients rather than served under a fish steak.
Expresses Tradition
In Cuisine
Uses Ingredient
Sources
1. Jollof Rice (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHistory and originQuote, History and origin
The Jolof or Wolof Empire was a confederacy state that ruled parts of West Africa situated in modern-day Senegal, Mali, The Gambia and Mauritania from around the 12th century
The Oxford Companion to Food
Alan Davidson, Oxford University Press, 2014
Larousse Gastronomique
Hamlyn, 2009Expresses Tradition: Spice Trade Traditions, s.v. Jollof Rice
Thieboudienne (Wikipedia)
WikipediaAssociated With: Thieboudienne, History and originQuote, Associated With: Thieboudienne, History and origin
The popular West African dish known as jollof is thought to have originated from thieboudienne, but is usually made with meat rather than fish, and the rice is mixed into the other ingredients.
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