Which country makes the best jollof rice? D.C. foodies put it to a blind test

Which country makes the best jollof rice? D.C.

Key points

• The Jollof Festival continues on to Atlanta, North Carolina Central University, Dallas and Houston this fall.
• Mamadou Koité (right) and Bai Saine at the window of the Koité Grill food trailer at Union Market.
• Two thousand individuals attended the Jollof Festival at Union Market in Washington, D.C.
• Resident Virginia Richards, 26, wore a red-and-cream-printed Liberian blouse to proudly display her heritage as she stood in line with a group of friends.
• This person runs a catering firm called The Maine Course, represented the United States, and won second place.

Which country makes the best jollof rice? D.C. Foodies put it to a blind test One of the most famous dishes throughout West Africa is Jollof Rice – fragrant rice cooked down with spices, tomatoes and meat. But which version is best? A traveling festival intends to find out.

Which country makes the best jollof rice? D.C. Foodies put it to a blind test.

Which country has the best jollof rice? A traveling festival intends to find out.

In practice, the samples of jollof rice at the festival in Washington, D.C. Were prepared by chefs from the D.C. Metro area, hailing from six countries: Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and – for the first time since the competition began in 2017 – the United States. Claire Harbage/NPR hide caption.

It's a heated historic rivalry throughout West Africa: Which country makes the best jollof rice?

Cooks throughout both Nigeria and Ghana have long maintained to create the best. But chefs in Senegal argue that it originated there in the 14th century – so it must be the best! No fewer than 10 countries offer their own version of the dish; a rich, fragrant rice cooked down with spices, tomatoes and meat.

On Saturday, two thousand individuals stood in line near Washington D.C.'s Union Market for a yellow box of six, color-coded taster cups. The organizers of the Jollof Festival have traveled throughout the United States to put this debate to the test, gathering thousands of residents for blind tastings of regional jollof prepared by local chefs.

Two thousand individuals attended the Jollof Festival at Union Market in Washington, D.C. Claire Harbage/NPR hide caption.

Friends Julie Agbasi and Shakesha Coleman came out to sample the variety and compared notes as they tried each one.

After trying one, "It bites you at the end!" Agbasi remarked. "It's very slow – it builds up and then at the end you're like, woo!"

"My heritage is Nigerian, so we used to eat jollof rice almost all the time, " Agbasi remarked. "It's delicious, but there are other regions that I'm really looking forward to."

Shakesha Coleman (left) and Julie Agbasi, try some of the samples of jollof rice at the festival. Claire Harbage/NPR hide caption.

For context, the rice samples ranged from a bright red to a brighter yellow jollof, flecked with herbs. Some patrons felt confident they could guess the country of provenance for each one – others simply enjoyed learning the diversity of jollof possibilities.

"You know when you have good jollof and you know when you don't have good jollof!" laughed Maggie Duncan August, an attendee with Ghanaian heritage. "My favorite jollof is spicy, smoky, it has good meat in it. Ghana always stands out as the number one!"

For context, the samples were prepared by chefs from the D.C. Metro area, hailing from six countries: Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and – for the first time since the competition began in 2017 – the United States.

Plenty of visitors enjoyed the samples, but doubled down on their preferences for the jollof of their spouses, neighbors, or childhoods.

"My sister-in-law is Nigerian, so every holiday we have, she brings her jollof rice. So I'm comparing them all to hers!" remarked Carla Shelton. This person was visiting from Phoenix.

D.C. Resident Virginia Richards, 26, wore a red-and-cream-printed Liberian blouse to proudly display her heritage as she stood in line with a group of friends.

Virginia Richards waits in line for a taster at the jollof rice festival in Washington, D.C. Claire Harbage/NPR hide caption.

"Liberia has the best jollof, and I feel like because we're such a small country, we don't get the hype we deserve – we're a very understated people, " Richards remarked. "There's meat, there's veggies, there's flavor and a little bit of spice. We're not afraid to create it more than just rice with tomato sauce!"

Notably, the chefs watched and waited, including 27-year-old chef Mamadou Koité. This person looked out the window of his food truck.

Koité and his mother were the chefs behind Senegal's submission to the festival; the family additionally runs a restaurant in Silver Spring, Md. Called the Koité Grill. The team began cooking at 5 a.m., grilling the lamb and chicken, preparing tomatoes and peppers for the sauce.

"The secret is love. When you create it you want to be happy, you want to be joyful, " Koité stated. "People are going to taste that."

Mamadou Koité (right) and Bai Saine at the window of the Koité Grill food trailer at Union Market. It serves Senegalese and West African food. Claire Harbage/NPR hide caption.

Koité notes the festival is not concerning winning or losing. It's more regarding bringing residents together to appreciate West African food.

"It feels like we're really putting ourselves out there, as Africans, " Koité remarked. "I feel like people are really getting in tune with. What it means to be African, and what it means to know the food and know the culture."

After a six-hour tasting, festival organizers gathered on stage to crown Ghanaian chef Kafui Attakpah as the D.C. Festival's winner.

It was a third win in a row for Attakpah – and attendees cheered loudly as he accepted a trophy adorned with a small pot of jollof rice. Attakpah is a co-owner of the Calabash African Cuisine & Bar in Alexandria, Va.

Jermaine Foreman-Marshall. This person runs a catering firm called The Maine Course, represented the United States, and won second place. In a day-after Instagram post, he thanked the team for letting an "American cousin" enter the competition.

"They didn't know who cooked it. They didn't know an American was behind the pot. They just knew that GREEN CUP was hitting!" he wrote. "I came to show my love for the culture, represent respectfully, and prove I've been paying attention all these years."

In practice, the Jollof Festival continues on to Atlanta, North Carolina Central University, Dallas and Houston this fall. If you're too far away to join the party, you can celebrate at home on World Jollof Day on August 22. The best jollof is the one you grew up with.

There are as plenty of recipes for jollof rice as there are stars in the sky. But after careful research, it appears that the world's best jollof is the one that was created by someone who cares concerning you.

When my editor asked for a recipe for this post, I reached out to Maigalisa Yohanna, one of my flatmates when I was a freelance journalist in Istanbul. Yohanna would cook Nigerian jollof rice for us, putting a warm bowl of it on my desk when I'd be scrambling on a deadline. Although they don't contain meat, this particular recipe is a combination of two that were shared with us by his sisters.

Yohanna and his wife, photojournalist Danielle Villasanna, are now living in Texas with their family. Every time I eat jollof, wherever I am, I think of them.

White rice 1 1/2 cups Vegetable oil 1/3 cup 3 medium tomatoes 1 sizeable red bell pepper 1 scotch bonnet pepper (adjust to taste) 1 medium onion 2 tablespoons tomato paste 2 1/4 cups chicken stock (or water) Smoked fish (if desired) 1 small knob ginger, minced (concerning 1/2 teaspoon) 1 clove garlic, minced (regarding 1/2 a teaspoon).

Seasoning mix: 3/4 tsp curry powder 1/2 tsp thyme 1 1/2 bouillon cubes (chicken or beef) 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds 1 bay leaf Dried chili pepper flakes, to taste 3/4 teaspoon salt Extra salt, to taste.

Optional first step: For a smokier taste, toss the tomato, bell pepper, and onion in a little bit of oil and roast in an oven at 425 degrees for regarding 15 minutes.

Employ a blender to puree the tomatoes, bell pepper, scotch bonnet, and half of the onion. Blend until smooth and set aside. Slice the remaining half of the onion. Wash the rice thoroughly with hot water and salt. Set aside.

In a sizeable skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Sauté the onion until soft, for regarding two minutes.

In the same pan, gently fry the tomato paste, ginger and garlic for regarding two minutes. Do not let it burn.

Taken together, the developments around which country makes the best jollof rice? D.C. Foodies put it to point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.