Joy Onuorah

Ingredient

• 3 Cups Long grain rice (your choice)
• 3/4 Cup Palm oil (adjust to your preference; use more or less)
• 2 Roma Tomatoes
• 1 Red bell pepper
• 1 Rodo (Habanero)
• 1.5 Onion (divided)
• 1 Tablespoon Iru (Locust beans) (use more if you wish)
• 1 Big Ponmo Ijebu (brown cowskin) (cleaned and cut into bite-size)
• 2 Stockfish
• A handful of dry fish (cleaned)
• 1/2 Cup Dried shrimp (cleaned)
• A handful Vegetables; Ugu/scent leave/spinach/green
• Seasoning powder/cubes
• Salt to taste

Direction

• Boil the stockfish with seasoning powder/cube and salt. Or soak stockfish, dried shrimp, and fish with salt and hot water, remove all the dirt, rinse, shred the stockfish, and dry fish and set aside. I boiled my stockfish and left it in hot water overnight this helps with the softness and the smell.
• Clean and deseed the red bell, rodo (habanero), then rise with tomatoes and half onion. Blend until smooth. Heat the oil in a pot over medium heat, don’t bleach the oil, slice half of the onion and add with the locust beans (iru) to the oil and cook until the onion is soft make sure you don’t burn the locust beans (Iru).
• Add the cleaned ponmo, dried, shrimps, fish, and stockfish then combine and cook for a few minutes. If you’re cooking with soft ponmo you might want to add to the rice later. The ponmo I used wasn’t soft so was so I included it.
• Add the blended pepper, seasoning with seasoning powder/cubes and salt then cook until the content reduces. While the pepper is cooking rinse the rice with cold water until the water runs clear then set aside. If you’re using frozen vegetable thaw, squeeze out excess water and set it aside.
• Add the rice and combine then add liquid; water or broth just enough to cover the content. Seasoning with seasoning powder/cube and salt when seasoning this time around taste before adding too much so you don’t over-season the rice. Cover and bring to a boil then reduce the heat and cook until the rice is cooked to your satisfaction.
• When the rice is like 2 minutes done or water is almost dry.
• Add the vegetable, if you like more onion add the remaining half (sliced) and combine. Check the seasoning and readjust if it’s necessary to cover and allow the vegetable and onion steam and rice to cook through.
• Turn off the heat, it’s okay if it burns a little bit.
• Serve and enjoy!