toolo beef fried rice

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Though fried rice is foreign to Nigeria but Nigerians have created their own version of this popular fried rice. It does not look or taste like the Chinese version. It is a truly Nigerian recipe made with ingredients that Nigerians are familiar with. This recipe is a fusion of Nigerian and Ghanaian flavors. The toolo beef flavor takes this meal to another level of deliciousness. The meat is salty and flavorful, the rice is also very delicious. The combination of both is a taste that you can only imagine. It is out of this world! Try it and you will surely love it.

• Soak the cured meat (toolo beef) in a very large bowl of water for at least 5 hours or more. This would extract some of the salt. You can repeat the process if you want to eliminate most of the salt.
• Cook toolo beef in a large pot of water. Add one bay leaf, a seasoning cube, one chopped habanero pepper, some garlic, some ginger and some chopped onions. Do NOT add salt. Cook and cook until done. Halfway through cooking , you can add more water to top it up. This would ensure that more salt would be extracted.
• Once the meat is done, heat up some water in a sauce pan and bring it to a boil. Pour the boiled water into the bowl of rice. Cover for about 5 minutes, then wash rice until the water runs clear. Pour the washed rice into a pot, pour in the chicken stock, add water if the chicken stock is not enough to cover the rice. Add some curry powder (about 2 tbsp), a bay leaf, a seasoning cube and salt to taste. Cover and cook over medium heat until done.
• Discard the meat stock because it is too salty, spread out the meat to cool. Then cut the meat into bite size. 
• In a pot, pour in the vegetable oil and heat it up over medium heat. Once oil is hot, add the cut meat  and fry until it has developed some color. You can remove the meat  from the oil if you want but I prefer to push them to one side of the pot the add the remaining chopped garlic, saute for a few seconds then add the remaining chopped chopped ginger, onions and habanero pepper and saute until the onion is translucent. At this point you can stir everything together, add one seasoning cube and a pinch of salt and fry for 1 - 2 minutes. Add the peas and carrots and 1 tsp curry powder and fry for about 2 minutes. Add the cooked rice gradually and stir to combine. Make sure it is well mixed together. Turn off the heat and enjoy the most delicious  fried rice you ever made.

Ingredients

4 cups long grain rice

Toolo beef/cured lamb

3 cups peas & carrots

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 large onion

3 habanero peppers

1 thumb ginger

2 cloves garlic

3 seasoning cubes

2 bay leaves

Meat stock

2 - 3 tbsp curry powder

Salt to taste