Jayne Whyte's Portfolio

I am a really good cook and maybe a scientist, call my kitchen a laboratory where I conduct all the trials and errors but still deliver great meals…..Is there any certification for this? Lol.  For some years now I have been trying to prepare Ofada rice and sauce to go with it but it never came out greaaaatttt or as I expected. I watched online videos, read recipes from food blogs but it never worked out well. I think I may have been really worried about bleaching the palm oil without burning my house or whether I needed to mash the ‘Iru’ before cooking or if the pungent smell from the Ofada rice and the ‘Iru’ was okay to ingest. 

And so, to measure my level of maturity since I added another year last week (I should emphasize here that I don’t give up easily) I decided to try out the recipe one more time and now, I can boastfully say I made it to “perfecto”. It came out nice, spicy, tasty and worth a billion bucks….I should be the ultimate Ofada Chef! Go Girl!

Ingredients: Palm oil, Iru (Dadawa), Onions, Green peppers, Tatashe, Red peppers, Salt, Crayfish, Ponmo and assorted parts and some Ofada rice. 

Cooking method: Steam ponmo and assorted parts and set aside, blend green peppers, tatashe and red peppers using very little water, pour mixture into a clean pot, steam till it is almost dry and set aside. Get a clean, dry pot pour a cooking spoon of palm oil, cover pot and allow to heat for about 10 minutes. Leave to cool.

Then put the pot of oil on fire, add chopped onions, fry till transparent, add the iru to the mixture and fry for about 5 minutes (constantly stirring). Pour in the steamed pepper mixture, stir and allow to cook for about 15 minutes. Then add the steamed ponmo and assorted meat parts, broth and allow to cook for about 10 minutes, stirring all the time. Add blended crayfish and a pinch of salt and leave to simmer for another 10 minutes. 

It is ready! Serve warm with boiled Ofada rice. Feel free to use the local banana leaves or a clean plate.