How to Parboil Rice for Cooking Jollof Rice (with video)

Jollof rice refers to all types of rice cooked with added ingredients: oil, tomato stew, vegetables, coconut milk etc. This method is applicable to Jollof Rice, Coconut Rice, Mixed Vegetables Jollof Rice, Fried Rice, Rice and Beans, etc.
With these kinds of rice recipes, you do not have the leisure of adding more water as you cook the rice. Once the first dose of water dries and you try to add another, the rice will burn and become soggy. For this reason you want to parboil the rice you will use for any jollof rice recipe a bit more. This way, you ensure that after adding the ingredients, the rice will be cooked by the time the level dose of water dries.
This is the method to follow to parboil rice meant for preparing jollof rice recipes:

1. Wash the rice in cold water (optional) and place in a pot.
2. Add some water, about 4 times the level of the rice.
3. Set on the stove and leave to cook.
4. Note when the water starts boiling and leave to cook till the rice is rubbery. One way to check this is to bite into a grain of the rice being parboiled. If the rice is hard to the bite or even makes a sound when you bite, it is not yet OK to rinse it. If you pinch it between your thumb and first finger and it practically melts, then it is over-parboiled. Somewhere between the first description and the second is the point where you want to put the rice down and cool it.
   
   Sounds confusing? No ... With experience, you will be more confident in determining the best time. You can also watch the video below to see how it is done.
5. Pour the contents of the pot in a sieve.
6. Cool down the rice rapidly by dipping the sieve in cold water, changing water often till the rice is cold.
7. Leave in the sieve to drain off all the water.
8. The rice is now ready to be cooked again.