Meatball Jollof Stew – West African Flavours {Gluten-Free)
For something a little different why not try this meatball jollof stew.
I have just come back from spending three glorious weeks in Sierra Leone. The sort of glorious weeks which involved, amongst other things, me watching my aunts whip up amazing African dishes over charcoal stoves. I also had the chance to see them use familiar cooking tools like a mortar and pestle, for making simple dishes like an African jollof stew.
Now, I grew up with and love using mortars and pestles, but they are hard work. And seeing them having to bring out this huuuuuuge one to make a small amount of jollof sauce got me thinking that I need to invest in a good blender for them. The list of things I want to send them just grows and grows and grows.
My first spoonful of their jollof rice and stew got me thinking about how to convert it into a meatball jollof stew, to share with on the blog. Fifteen minutes of sitting on the concrete floor and some furious scribbling with a stray piece of charcoal and I had a first draft of the recipe. I also got some rather weird looks (and mutterings) from the neighbours peering over the fence, about what happens when you let your children go abroad :).
I love making jollof stew. It is one of those immensely adaptable dishes, that is easy to whip up and just makes a great center piece for any special occasions. I must say that our African stews normally contain chicken beef, pork, fried fish and even things like plantains and sweet potato rather than meatballs. But I think this meatball stew worked well and will now be added to my growing jollof stew repertoire.
Oh and you know that blender I was thinking of getting the folks.
Well I got a brand new Whal James Martin blender to test out. This 500W baby – is super duper fun and just what they need. The 1.5l heavy duty jug is also the right size for blending the base of stews, soups and palava sauces. It also crushes ice, which will make my slushie loving little cousin very happy. It’s removable blades make cleaning it much, much easier.
I also really like the fact that it comes with a smaller grinder attachment ideal for grinding nuts (as they make their own peanut butter), spices (they make their own cayenne peppers) and coffee.
I can’t wait to send them this lovely Wahl James Martin table blender with grinder. I bet they are gonna love it.
You can win yourself your very own Wahl James Martin blender. To be in with a chance of winning this, all you have to do is enter via the gleam form below. You can even win extra entries by tweeting and sharing some of my recipes each day. This giveaway is open to UK entrants only and runs until Monday 2oth Februaray 2017. Good luck.
A Wahl James Martin Blender rrp £45
Check out my giveaway page for more prizes.
PS for more African recipes why not check out my easy okro soup recipe?
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Meatball Jollof Stew – West African Flavours {Gluten-Free)
Ingredients
- Vegetable oil
- 30 large meatballs
For the Jollof Sauce:
- Two small onions finely chopped and divided
- 1 red bell pepper roughly chopped
- Chopped scotch bonnet chilli to taste
- 400 g (14oz) chopped tomatoes
- 1 tbsp tomato puree
- 2 cloves garlic peeled
- 2 cm piece of peeled ginger
- 1 stock cube
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp white pepper
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 120 ml (0.5 cup) water
- salt
To Serve:
- Jollof Rice
- Extra chilli
Instructions
- Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a frying pan, and brown the meatballs on all sides, remove from the heat and set aside.
Cook the jollof sauce:
- Add half the onion, the pepper, scotch bonnet chilli to taste, chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, garlic, ginger and stock cube into a blender and blend into a smooth paste and set aside.
- Heat 1 tbsp oil in a frying pan over medium heat add the remaining onion, 1 tbsp of the water and bay leaves and fry for 7 mins until soft. Add the tomato pepper paste, white pepper, thyme and water, stir well, reduce the heat and cook for approx. 25 min till the tomato sauce is cooked through.
- Add in the meatballs, bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer and cook for about 10 mins until the meatballs are cooked through. Adjust seasoning
- Serve the meatball jollof sauce over some jollof rice, with extra chilli on the side. Enjoy every mouthful.
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