How to make Agidi Jollof (3 Easy Steps)

I can’t talk about my childhood without mentioning agidi jollof, mum always prepared agidi at home, agidi was also sold in school. it was so affordable. Preparing agidi requires lots of patience. The procession is very difficult but it is worth it. You want to know how to make agidi jollof from scratch then this post is for you.

Ingredients Agidi Jollof

The following ingredients are important for making agidi jollof

• 3 cups dry white corn
• 12 small chewable soft bones (I used ribs)
• 1-2 teaspoons Nigerian curry powder
• 1-2 teaspoons ground dry cayenne pepper
• 500 mls tomato stew
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• 1 red onion
• 2 small seasoning cubes (beef flavor)
• Salt (to taste)

What you for wrapping your agidi jollof:

• Uma leaves (thaumatococuus daniellii). 
• Banana leaves. 
• Glass bowls

What you should know about Agidi Jollof Ingredients

1. The tomato stew is a well-fried stew with all the tangy taste gone
2. The corn must be dry.
3. Because this is Agidi Jollof that will have added stew, you can get away with using yellow corn because red stew which will mask the yellow color of the agidi will be added to the Agidi Jollof anyway.

How to make Agidi Jollof stew

First, prepare the Agidi Jollof stew

1. Put the cleaned soft bones in a pot.
2. Add the onion (cut into chunks), seasoning cubes, and thyme.
3. Pour water to cover it and start cooking.
4. When the meat is soft, take them out and put it in another pot.
5. Take away the chunks of onion then sieve the stock into the meat so that no tiny pieces of ingredients will ruin the Agidi Jollof mold.
6. Add the tomato stew. Remember this is a well-fried tomato stew, not tomato puree.
7. Add curry powder, cayenne pepper, and salt. Cover and once it gets a good simmer, it’s done. Set it aside.

How to make the Agidi

1. Rinse the corn very well, put in a pot and pour water to cover the corn.
2. Set it on the stove, cover and start cooking on medium heat.
3. As soon as it boils very well, take it off the stove. See video below.
4. Pour in a sieve and rinse with cool water.
5. Blend the corn till smooth.
6. Then sieve and rinse with a chiffon cloth, that cloth for sieving akamu.
7. When done, cover the bowl and leave it to settle.
8. When the corn starch completely separates from the water, slowly decant the water into a container.
9. Scoop the corn starch into a pot, add the decanted water bit by bit, stirring at the same time till you get the consistency of evaporated milk.
10. Set the pot on the stove on medium heat and start stirring none stop. If you stop stirring, lumps will form, you don’t want that.
11. Once it starts to thicken, stir even more continuously till the agidi is well cooked.

Mixing your agidi to the agidi stew

1. Once you are happy with the consistency and you have confirmed that the agidi is done, scoop a small quantity of the stew (only the stew, no bones) into the agidi. Mix very well. Add more, mix, till you get an overall even colour as shown in the video below.
2. Do not be tempted to add too much stew because if too much, the stew will prevent the agidi mold from forming.
3. When happy, make a cone with one leaf and scoop some Agidi Jollof into the cone, about half the quantity you want in that wrap.
4. Add one or two soft bones into the wrap.
5. Scoop more agidi Jollof into the wrap to completely cover the bone.
6. Wrap as shown in the video below and set aside for a few minutes till the mold forms.