Crab jollof rice

  • medium
  • 5
  • 2 hours 15 minutes
5.00

Jollof rice is a staple of West African cuisine, but Jeremy Chan adds his signature twist to the recipe by turning this spicy rice dish into a fiery umami bomb. He cooks the rice in a complex, carefully balanced mixture of vegetables, spices and seasonings, before finishing the dish with a luxurious crab custard, a fresh crab salad and a wok hei paste of garlic, ginger and chilli, borrowed from his Cantonese heritage. The final dish hits every corner of your palate – an incredible display of precision cooking.

First published in 2019

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Jollof mix

Crab salad

Crab custard

Wok hei paste

Rice

To garnish

Equipment

  • High-power blender
  • Muslin cloth
  • Cooking thermometer
  • Steamer
  • Heavy-duty gloves

Method

1
To begin, make the jollof sauce – this will later be used to cook the rice. Add a generous amount of grapeseed oil to a very hot pan and, when smoking, add the tomatoes. Leave the tomatoes to sizzle in the oil for several minutes, allowing them to slightly burn and smoke on the bottom. Turn over after 5 minutes and continue to cook on a high heat until reduced and broken down
2
Toss the roughly chopped peppers, onions, garlic and ginger in some oil and grill until very charred. Be sure to char the garlic and ginger for less time as they can become bitter. Place all the charred vegetables into the reduced tomatoes, along with the spices and other condiments (save the dashi for later). Cover with a lid and cook on a low heat until soft and reduced
3
Blitz very well, loosening with the dashi to adjust the consistency to that of a smooth sauce, and pass through a sieve. Transfer the pulp remaining in the sieve to a bag made from double layers of muslin and use this to sqeeze out the last drops of sauce
  • 750g of dashi, to loosen the mix (you might not need all of it)
4
Now make the wok hei paste. Blitz the garlic, ginger and spring onion to a smooth paste. Place in a deep pot
5
Heat the oil to over 280°C. Wearing heavy-duty gloves and staying well away from any open flames, immediately and carefully pour the oil over the paste and stir quickly. Set aside
  • 165g of vegetable oil
6
Finely dice and de-seed the chillies and fold into the cooled paste. Set aside
7
To make the crab salad, finely slice the coriander leaves with a very sharp knife. Finely slice the chives into small rounds. Peel the apple and dice very finely. Mix all the ingredients well and reserve in the fridge
8
For the crab custard, blitz all the ingredients in a high-power blender for 5 minutes, then pass through a fine sieve into a pan. Heat the mixture gently on the hob, until thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon
9
Wash the rice well, then drain. Place in a large pan with the jollof sauce and simmer until cooked through
10
To serve, roast the rice in a hot pan with a spoonful of the wok hei paste. Divide between bowls, drizzle with the crab custard and top with the crab salad. Serve immediately garnished with fresh sorrel

A deeply thoughtful and analytical chef, Jeremy Chan takes the scientific principles of flavour and applies them to create undeniably delicious food at London's two-Michelin-starred Ikoyi.

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