Nigerian chef Hilda Baci’s much-anticipated World Jollof Festival is currently underway at Eko Hotel Car Park B, Lagos.
PREMIUM TIMES reported that Hilda first revealed plans to attempt cooking the largest pot of Nigerian jollof rice in August and had since been making extensive preparations for the event.
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Yesterday, she posted videos on her Instagram page announcing the arrival of key ingredients and materials needed for cooking, including tomatoes, peppers, oil, and a giant pot, among others.
The pot, which was delivered to the venue on Thursday evening, immediately drew widespread attention for its enormous size.
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Its arrival not only captivated Nigerians but also sparked amazement when Hilda was seen washing the colossal six-metre-wide vessel with a branded detergent ahead of the festival.
A video of the chef standing inside the custom-made pot as she scrubbed its interior further intrigued netizens, prompting questions about its construction and durability.
Quality assurance
However, in an interview with TVC News at the venue, posted on the TV station’s Instagram page, Hilda addressed these concerns.
She explained how the materials for the giant pot were sourced and assured the public of its quality.
She said, “The materials that were used to fabricate the pot were sourced from the Southwest. The entire process of putting the pots together took about two months. But then, when we got the material and just put it all together, testing it, it took another month. Initially, I had a very ambitious dream to make 5,000 kilograms of raw rice, and we’re using Basmati rice, which is supposed to be 250 bags of Basmati rice. We also need to weigh the food when we’re done, so that we can have a definite quantity, and we don’t have a crane that can weigh it all at the same time.
“Because of that, we had to cut down on the quantity of food. So I cut it down by 1,000 kilograms. So now I’m doing 4,000 kilograms of raw rice, and that is 200 bags of 20 kg Basmati rice. That’s supposed to give us approximately, with the expansion ratio for the rice, about 15,000 kilograms of rice. Give or take, 14,000 to 15,000 kilograms. We might stretch it to 16,000 kilograms of rice because we’re making our own Jollof rice and there’s going to be goat’s milk infused in the rice as well.”
Authenticity
Speaking on how she preserved the authenticity of Nigerian Jollof, Hilda explained that she applied mathematics to handle the calculations.
She added that certain aspects of the cooking were estimated, noting that not everything could be measured with exact precision.
“But when you cook, we also say it’s easy to taste. You need to eyeball it to an extent. So I’ve done the math, and we’re still going to be watching it while the cooking is going on to ensure that everything’s right. Now for the ingredients, I have a fire mix. You know that Gino and I are doing this together.
“So I’m using a combination of our Gino Parsi Jollof mix, our Gino pepper chicken mix, and our Gino Asun paste and cubes. And those three tomato pastes are being combined to make this. I also made a martini sauce tomato base for it. Which is a combination of fresh cayenne pepper, fresh paprika. That’s Tatashe and Vava for the Nigerians here. And onions, garlic, ginger, fresh thyme, fresh basil, seasoning oil, you know and all. And obviously, we have vegetable oil”, she said.
Hilda added that she’ll use Gino curry, thyme, rice water, turkey stock, and turkey pieces in the pot, among other ingredients.
“So it’s a very robust and very expensive pot of rice. And we’re hoping that all this comes together to make a very delicious Gino Asun Jollof rice. So for the tomato paste, what we’re working with is about a thousand kilograms.
“If I’m to put that into quantity, that would give us around 500 cartons of tomato paste. So we have about 200 cartons, and for the onions, I think we’re doing about 600 kilograms of onions. I think we have 750 kilograms of oil as well.”
Backstory
This newspaper learnt that the event, organised in partnership with the seasoning brand Gino, is expected to attract over 20,000 people as Hilda attempts to cook 250 bags of rice.
READ ALSO: Guiness World Record: Hilda Baci to cook 250 bags of rice for largest pot of Jollof
This was not the first time Hilda had made headlines with a cooking marathon. In May 2023, this newspaper reported that she completed a 100-hour cooking marathon in Lagos.
Her feat earned her global recognition when Guinness World Records (GWR, in June 2023, named her the record holder for the longest individual cooking marathon.
Although she had set out to reach a 100-hour target, GWR officials later explained that a minor error on her part affected the final tally.
Over the four-day marathon, Hilda cooked more than 100 pots of food, surpassing the previous record of 87 hours and 45 minutes set in 2019 by Indian chef Lata Tondon.
However, her reign as record holder was short-lived.
She was later dethroned by Irish chef Alan Fisher, who cooked for 119 hours and 57 minutes, 24 hours longer than Hilda’s record.
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