Banga Rice Party Style

Ingredients

• 5 big cups of parboiled long-grain rice, washed
• Thick palm nut cream from a large pot of fresh palm nuts OR 2 large tins palm nut extract
• Half a medium chicken, cut and cooked
• Half a medium goat, cut and cooked
• 2 big handfuls of stockfish, soaked
• 2 big handfuls of smoked catfish, soaked and deboned
• 1 big handful of periwinkles, cleaned
• 4 big handfuls of ground crayfish
• 4 Atarodo (hot chilli peppers), blended
• 1 big onion, chopped
• 3 pieces of oburunbebe stick
• 3 big handfuls of dried atama leaves, crumbled
• 1 teaspoon of ground ehuru
• A big handful of uziza leaves, shredded
• 4 seasoning cubes (Knorr), crushed
• Salt to taste

Method

1. 01

   Extracting Palm Cream. Extract palm cream from fresh palm nuts or thin canned extract with water. You need enough cream to cook 5 cups of rice — approximately 6 to 7 glasses of liquid total.

2. 02

   Infusing the Spices. Pour palm cream into a large pot. Add oburunbebe sticks, crumbled atama leaves and ground ehuru. Bring to a boil and simmer 15 minutes to fully infuse the Delta spices.

3. 03

   Building the Cooking Liquid. Add blended Atarodo, all cooked proteins, stockfish, smoked catfish, periwinkles, ground crayfish, seasoning cubes and salt. Stir and cook for 10 minutes. Add the combined meat stocks. Taste — the liquid must be boldly seasoned.

4. 04

   Cooking the Rice. Add the washed rice. Stir once. Cover tightly with foil and lid. Cook on medium heat for 25 to 30 minutes until rice is fully cooked and liquid absorbed.

5. 05

   Finishing. Remove oburunbebe sticks. Add uziza leaves and fluff the rice gently. The finished Banga Party Rice should be brilliantly orange, deeply fragrant and packed with Delta spice character.

More main dishes

• Jollof Rice90 min
• Fried Rice60 min
• Coconut Rice45 min
• Ofada Rice with Ayamase Sauce75 min
• Concoction Rice45 min
• Rice and Beans60 min