“My mother used to buy because we were five of us all in the university at the same time,” Ukagumaoha recalls. And in the mornings, he cranks out orders of Indomie jollof, a staple for thrifty Nigerian university students. There's an akara burger, made up of fried bean fritters that Ukagumaoha sandwiches between slices of sweet agege bread made by a local Ghanaian baker. While jollof is the headliner, Jolly-Jolly serves a number of other dishes that are even harder to find in the Bay. During the pandemic, however, after other job contracts had run their course, Ukagumaoha started thinking seriously about starting a food business, and started doing volunteer food prep at large corporate catering companies like Bon Appétit. After moving to the Bay Area in 2014, he worked mostly in the nonprofit sector for various housing programs. Ukagumaoha helped run a small restaurant during his university days in Nsukka, Nigeria. Of particular note is an extra-savory version that’s topped with kale and shrimp, both tossed in a potent shrimp-based sauce-an original creation, Ukagumaoha says, that adds a little bit of California flair to the traditional party dish. But the results speak for themselves: His jollof is packed with umami and fiery enough to make you break a sweat. Of course, Ukagumaoha won’t say what that ingredient is. (As Ukagumaoha quips, “Who would teach a male child how to cook if not your mother?”) In fact, the chef had been making jollof for years, but he says it never tasted quite right until recently, when his mother divulged her secret ingredient. It’s a family recipe, passed down from the chef's mother. (Luke Tsai)īut the star of the menu is that orange-tinted jollof rice, which is available in several different configurations, topped with oxtails or stewed goat meat or even kale. Indomie jollof: a classic breakfast for thrifty Nigerian university students. A breakfast plate features Indomie, Nigeria’s most popular brand of instant noodle. He serves a fiery suya chicken skewer that he bakes in the oven. These were the kinds of inexpensive dishes that Ukagumaoha survived on when he was a university student in Nigeria. Located in a former pupusa shop across the street from the West Oakland BART station, Jolly-Jolly specializes in what chef-owner Jahswill Ukagumaoha describes as street foods. So when a new Nigerian takeout spot called Jolly-Jolly Coffee & Kitchen opened in West Oakland last month, it was happy news for jollof rice lovers across the Bay-and, really, for anyone who appreciates well-spiced food. In the Bay Area, however, the dish is still a relative rarity. Jollof rice might be West Africa’s most famous dish-the smoky, spicy, tomato-tinged pride and joy of countless households across Nigeria, Ghana and Sierra Leone.
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