Tasty Tom Jollof Mix delivers Ghana’s biggest pot of jollof rice

Tasty Tom Jollof Mix, by Nutrifoods Ghana, was the star food ingredient of the 2019 Afrochella Festival when it was used by a team of chefs to cook Ghana’s biggest ever serving of Jollof and presented to a packed El Wak Stadium in Accra.

Some 20,000 celebrants and revelers at the 3rd Afrochella festival watched in amazement as a 16-man team of cooks, led by Executive Chefs, Joseph Onchwati and Jove Mensah, worked their way steadily around a swimming pool-sized cooking pot to deliver an impressive 1.46-tonne meal of Tasty Tom Jollof.

The Afrochella festival is a celebration of Ghana’s diverse culture and the vibrant work of its creatives and entrepreneurs, covering Africa art, cuisine and Afrobeat music.

This year’s festival, co-sponsored by Nutrifoods Ghana, stood out because it was a major item on the activity-list of the Ministry of Tourism’s “Year of Return” campaign.

Tasty Tom Jollof Mix, the key ingredient used for the historic Jollof meal is a new recipe developed by Nutrifoods Ghana, which combines Tasty Tom tomato paste, a popular primary ingredient in most Ghanaian meals, with traditional Jollof ingredients and can be prepared in just 45 minutes to achieve the West African rice meal’s distinct colour and taste.

Ms Ewuresi Krampa, the Brand Manager of Tasty Tom explained, “The new recipe blends all the main ingredients used in the traditional process of cooking Jollof in Ghana and allows people to cook amazing Jollof in just four easy steps! First, you add oil to a pot and heat it.

Then you add Tasty Tom Jollof Mix and fry for four minutes. Add water, a cube and a little salt to the mix, and bring it to a boil. Finally, you add washed rice and cook until the water is drained and your Jollof is ready. With three sachets of 70g Jollof Mix you can cook 800g of raw rice which is enough to feed a family of four.”

When the huge pot of Jollof was cooked, a large number of festival participants and the audience were served with samples of fresh, tasty Jollof.

Ms Krampa described the task of cooking such a vast quantity of Jollof as “a most exciting challenge” for her team. “It seemed like an impossible task at first, but with the cooking skills of the Tasty Tom Jollof Mix team at play and the enthusiasm showed by the audience on the Afrochella festival grounds, we were able to pull it off with great success,” she told newsmen.

Mr. Jay Anjaria, Marketing Head of Olam’s Packaged Food Business, said Jollof is a dish loved by Ghanaians and cooked in most homes across the country, but observed that cooking the meal the traditional way could be so time-consuming and stressful that many families are unable to eat Jollof as often as they normally would.

“The arrival of Tasty Tom Jollof Mix is therefore revolutionary. Nutrifoods Ghana has changed the game with the introduction of Tasty Tom Jollof Mix, an innovative new culinary aid that makes life much easier for Ghanaians by allowing them to cook Tasty Jollof, quickly and easily,” said Mr. Anjaria.

Mr. Amitav Basak, Head of Business at Nutrifoods Ghana described the launch of Tasty Tom Jollof Mix as “a great new addition to Nutrifoods’ growing range of products in Ghana” reflecting the company’s goal of satisfying its customers through high quality products and innovation.