"Life is jollof," with varieties, spices and other interesting things

kehinde omotosho

April 21, 2017 5:01 PM

Just like jollof rice, life should be full of interesting things, spices, varieties and side attractions that makes it different and not monotonous, this is according to Toluwanimi Ogunbiyi.

Jollof Rice

“LIFE IS JOLLOF”, what does that phrase mean? When cooking white rice, you just wash, parboil, wash again, add salt cook till it’s soft.

Life isn’t that simple, life is complicated, life is complex and intricate, you just don’t wake up in the in the morning and expect that the day would turn out just the way you want it to all the time.

At some point monotony comes to mind, white rice (or spaghetti) becomes a cliché. This is where Jollof comes in. Jollof is life, Jollof is like fingerprints, no two jollof can ever be the same, the jollof you cook will taste different from the one your mother or sister cooks, the jollof you cook today could taste different from the one you cook another time, given the same ingredients. And just like life, it may taste better or worse or sometimes just as good.

Jollof gives us the avenue to express ourselves, there’s always a type of jollof to suit everyone’s desire, also jollof is pocket-friendly, suiting whatever budget you have.

Our Preferences may also differ, for example, one may decide to make his jollof extra spicy while the other might not like spicy food. Then there’s the flavour based jollof (because the flavour is everything), it could be crayfish flavoured, chicken, beef or even ram (during Ileya period.)

Jollof doesn’t just stop at rice alone though. Wikipedia defines jollof as a “one pot dish”, so you can imagine how many one pot dishes that can be cooked, especially in a place like Nigeria where staple foods are the order of the day. For me, any food that isn’t cooked plain or eaten with soup or stew is jollof. For example, we have jollof spaghetti, yam porridge, beans porridge, etc.

What’s life without taking risks and trying out new and exciting things like Skydiving bungee jumping, etc? Same goes with jollof too, there’s no definite way of cooking jollof, this gives one the opportunity to go the extra mile, this is where we think of garnishment, like the usual vegetables (carrots green beans peas,etc) also there's seafood garnishing like shrimps sardines prawns etc.. The possibilities are endless.

Finally, what’s life without a few side attractions here and there? With jollof by side attractions I mean the legendary dodo (Plantain in whom we are pleased) salad, coleslaw, MOI-MOI, etc.

In conclusion, life becomes more interesting and worth living when we get out of our comfort zones and try new and exciting things, same goes with Jollof. Try a new kind of Jollof today and remember, “LIFE IS JOLLOF, BE LIKE JOLLOF”.

kehinde omotosho