Join twowildtides on the country challenge. Each week, we’re going to be heading to a new country (in spirit). Primarily, we’ll be cooking a meal from each country; but we’ll also be watching travel documentaries, reading travel blogs, and listening to music. During the global pandemic, travel is largely inaccessible. We want to reignite our wanderlust, satisfy our travel bug as much as we can, and learn some new things along the way. I have a feeling our bucket list will have a number of items added to it through this experience as well. We created a simple alphabetical spreadsheet with all the countries of the world, and each week we will draw a random number that corresponds with a country on the spreadsheet.
This week we’re in the West African country of Liberia. Known for brightly coloured yet dilapidated architecture, beautiful beaches, and rich Indigenous cultures; Liberia is a less-travelled country due to corruption and poverty, but locals will tell you it’s still worth visiting. Americans are especially welcomed in Liberia, which has an interesting history that makes it almost a parallel country to the USA. I’ve linked a YouTube video below that explains this.
It was difficult to find a lot of information about Liberian cuisine, so we turned once again to our trusty pals at 196Flavors.com, who posted this article and recipe for Jollof Rice. When we started looking more into the dish, we found that Flavorverse listed Jollof Rice at number 2 in their list of top 10 Liberian dishes. EPersian food also highlighted Jollof Rice in their list of Most Delicious Liberian Meals. In the end, we chose to follow this recipe found on LiberianForum.com, as we thought it is likely the most authentic.
Jollof Rice was really easy to prepare. Once the veggies were chopped and the meats simmering (we went with chicken and bacon), it was just a waiting game for the yummy tomato stew to be ready. We cooked the plain white rice in a separate pot and then combined everything into one bowl upon serving.
This dish was super tasty and wholesome, but ultimately not a standout after more than a year of cooking meals from other countries. It just didn’t have the same depth of flavour as other stew-like dishes we’ve tried. Although, I will say that’s very, very likely my fault and not the fault of the recipe. I’m sure Jollof Rice prepared by Liberians is simply delicious.
See ya next week!
Let us know what you think!