Recipe for “Pidgins and Creoles”: Jollof Rice
As I noted in a previous post, food is part and parcel of any fieldwork experience. My “Languages of the World” course at NTU Singapore gives an overview of world languages, highlighting theories about language development and human migration, as well as surveying major families, linguistic typology, and the cultures and practices of different groups. I decided to make the topics and areas more relatable through a food component, where I cook food from a linguistic group represented in that week, so that everyone can get an idea of possible foods in a fieldwork situation. The weeks where we sample food are also the weeks in which we have student presentations, so each group of students can have a say in what gets prepared if they would like.
Restrictions
To cater for various dietary restrictions, I restrict or modify recipes to be vegetarian/Buddhist (Mahayana) friendly. This means avoiding onions, garlic and other pungent vegetables. I also list out all the ingredients and preparation beforehand, so students can decide whether to partake in the week’s option. I also ask students to let me know of any allergies on the first day of class.
What are “Pidgins and Creoles”
The first week of presentations we covered the diversity of pidgins and creoles. These are codes/languages that develop out of contact scenarios, where speakers of two (or more) languages need to communicate but don’t share a language in common. Such varieties typically start out as “pidgins” which are relatively simple, restricted in use, and disappear easily when the contact situation changes. If the situation is maintained, children grow up speaking the pidgin and it develops more complexity, becoming a “creole”. This process is well-attested at different times and places around the world, and offers insight into language evolution and change.
The students were presenting on West African Creoles and requested something from that region. Having grown up in Ghana, I actually had a family recipe for Jollof Rice, which is a tomato-based rice dish that apparently originated in Senegal but has many regional variants. With some modification, I prepared the following Mahayana-vegetarian-friendly version. The traditional dish includes sautéed onion and garlic as well as meat, but it still tastes great without. This recipe serves 10-12, modify to your portion preference.
Jollof rice
Ingredients:
- oil (4 tbs)
- rice (3 cups)
- large mushrooms (4-8) or equivalent, cubed
- crushed tomatoes & water (6 cups total; I used 2-3 cans of diced tomatoes, add a bit more water if you’re using fresh cut tomatoes)
- vegetable bouillon cubes (6)
- (optional: 2 onions, chopped; 4 cloves garlic, minced)
How to cook:
- Heat some of the oil in a large pot.
- Add mushrooms (and onions/garlic if you like), brown/sauté for a few minutes.
- Add remaining oil and dry rice, sauté until golden.
- Add tomatoes, liquid, & bouillon cubes.
- Bring to a boil.
- Cover & simmer 20 minutes or longer if needed.
- Stir before serving.
Notes:
One thing to keep in mind is to make sure the rice gets slightly browned (step 3) before being boiled with the tomatoes. This helps give the rice its rich flavor. Depending on the other things you have available, you might include different vegetables - string beans are a pretty good option.
This was quite a popular dish with the students - they chose it as the final option for class in our end-of-course poll!
