Jollof rice is a West African dish created with rice, tomatoes, onions, lots of peppers and loads of spice. Nigerians get ready it differently from Ghanaians, who make it in different ways from Liberians. There are variations from Senegal, Cameroon and Sierra Leone. The discussion over which is superior is usually passionate, at times deadly critical. Every single one is the finest and only jollof rice.

An case in point: A several a long time back, close to Christmas, my colleague Helene Cooper well prepared jollof rice for the Washington bureau of The New York Times. Helene was born in Liberia. She posted a picture of her dish on the social media web site then identified as Twitter, calling it “the authentic and righteous Liberian jollof rice. It is unequaled. West African pretenders with your rival nonsense, sit down.”

Helene’s jollof rice won raves in the District that night, but these days I want to transform your consideration to Yewande Komolafe’s jollof rice (over). (Yewande grew up in Nigeria, so it’s not for Helene.) Hers is a beautiful recipe, best for earning on a lazy Sunday afternoon, to serve with fried plantains, braised goat or just some hen thighs tossed in salt, pepper and neutral oil, then roasted crisp.


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With Sunday evening meal taken care of, we can flip to the rest of the week. …

I enjoy Ali Slagle’s straightforward recipe for herb-marinated seared tofu, with its bright, herby sauce. Incorporate sliced celery, maybe avocado, some nuts and seeds? I believe I will.

Another winner from Yewande: skillet rooster with peppers and tomatoes. The peppers and some onions melt down into a silky sauce brightened by sherry vinegar and cherry tomatoes, a excellent foil to the bone-in chicken, outstanding with rice and, in my property, an oven-warmed baguette.

Weeknight dinners really do not appear improved or additional very easily than with Ali’s midnight pasta with roasted garlic, olive oil and chile, a version of pasta aglio e olio. It is a little far more sophisticated than the primary on account of the roasted garlic, but it’s no true chore if you make it in a toaster oven in the morning right before function, even though you are looking at The Occasions. (Y’oughta!)

Melissa Clark’s recipe for crispy chickpea stew with greens and lemon is fantastic, with pops of salty feta, slicks of tender greens and the marvelous crunch of the fried chickpeas sprinkled on top. Finest of all on a Thursday evening: It will take only one particular pot.

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Now, it’s very little to do with smelly cheeses or the seem of onions scorching in butter, but I wanted to share a several additional titles I took down more than the system of my recent vacation — guides value examining, minimal presents just about every a single.

Here’s Siri Hustvedt’s 1996 novel “The Enchantment of Lily Dahl”: passionate, funny and mysterious. Also, Deepti Kapoor’s “Age of Vice,” an epic, luxe thriller set in contemporary India, revealed this year. I liked Scot Lehigh’s “Just East of Nowhere,” much too, a darkish coming-of-age tale set in a struggling Maine coastal town, also printed this yr.

At last, let us get tremendous freaky, with Mordecai Richler’s “St. Urbain’s Horseman,” revealed in 1971. Time-journey to that decade’s weirdness, excessive and needs, with plot and comedy to spare. Get pleasure from a single or extra of those, cook your jollof and I’ll see you upcoming week.