Product Review - Tasty Tom Jollof Mix
As Manifest’s said in B.E.A.R, “ I was late to the party, now I have it lit. I brought the climax, I found the -”
I am extremely late to party. So late that I’m unsure if this review is even needed at this point but here goes:
Rating - 1.5/5
Tasty Tom Jollof Mix was marketed as an alternative tomato stew base for jollof. This product is supposed to be a full replacement for the stew you would ordinarily have to prepare if you were cooking jollof. Jollof is incredibly easy to make but also really easy to mess up. The most important part about the entire process is the tomato stew base. It is the determining factor if you would be asked to make jollof again in the future or if everyone will conveniently bring up that one time you attempted to make jollof that was so bad everyone pretended to eat but got rid of it as soon as you walked away. Of course only you know that that was not an attempt, It was your best effort.
This base does not contain enough of the ingredients and spices needed to give you a solid foundation. Right out of the pack it has this really metallic flavour. The first thing you smell is the pungent smell of onion powder. The first thing you taste is is pepper. It is practically impossible to taste the spice extracts and herbs the ingredients states. You can’t smell them either. The mix however still has the really vibrant red associated with Tasty Tom tomato paste. You are guaranteed that your jollof is going to have the quintessential jollof colour.
Package instructions state that you’ll need to sauté onions, add the mix and cook for 10 minutes. After which you add 1L of water/stock, seasoning cube and bring to a boil, and then add your 2 cups of rice. An interesting thing to note is that traditionally the Ghanaian cup as a unit of measurement is not the same volume for a cup as a unit of measurement anywhere else in the world (excluding some African countries). Because this product is sold here the assumption is that the 2 cups stated on the package is referencing the Ghanaian cup. There is no way to confirm this assumption. Depending on which cup it is, 1L of water/stock for 2 cups of rice might be too much liquid.
Even after frying the base there is still an overwhelming lack of flavour. You’ll need to incorporate even more ingredients to make this taste anywhere like a good jollof stew base. You’d also need to use the richest stock available to infuse flavour. I’m unsure why the package gives water as an option because water does nothing here. If anything it dilutes the very little flavour you’ve managed to build. I’m uncertain how many seasoning cubes you’ll need to use- a lot by my estimation. This is a great product to use in a bind. My guess is it’ll be wonderful as a regular tomato paste with all the other ingredients you’ll usually use in a regular jollof stew. You can also use it for soups that call for a bit of tomato paste.
Pros
Easy to use
Versatile
Really bold red colour
Value for money
Cons
Has a really weird smell
Tastes briny/metallic
Does not replace Jollof stew base
Does not have enough flavour to stand on its own
Here are some of my favourite Jollof recipes:
https://www.blendnwhip.com/blog/9guti8q3c5im45zgwe22u2p78ijcdf?rq=jollof
https://www.blendnwhip.com/blog/nhvxliavuwd4gogcuholdm1hehq9pe?rq=jollof
https://www.blendnwhip.com/blog/jollof-with-grilled-chicken?rq=jollof
https://www.blendnwhip.com/blog/couscous-jollof?rq=jollof
https://www.blendnwhip.com/blog/2018/9/17/chicken-jollof?rq=jollof