By Deborah Nnamdi
Hilda Baci, the renowned chef who earned global recognition in 2023 for completing the longest cooking marathon, is aiming for another ambitious culinary feat — creating the world’s largest pot of jollof rice.
In a video posted to Instagram on Monday, Baci revealed the scale of her new project, which has sparked widespread curiosity and anticipation. She shared that the specially designed pot for the attempt holds a massive 22,619 litres, and her goal is to fill it to at least 75 to 80 percent capacity.
“To achieve that,” she explained, “I’ll need about 5,278 kilograms of raw basmati rice — roughly 264 bags. But I’ve made the executive decision to work with 250 bags.”
In addition to the rice, Baci highlighted the staggering amount of condiments needed, focusing especially on tomato paste — a key ingredient in Nigerian jollof rice.
“For every kilogram of rice, you’d need about 0.20 to 0.35 kg of tomato paste,” she said. “Since this is Nigerian jollof, I’m using 0.30 kg per kilogram of rice, which comes to a total of 1,583 kilograms of Gino tomato paste.”
She added that this tomato base will be complemented with pepper chicken paste and jollof paste, ensuring that the final product isn’t just the largest — but also the most flavorful — pot of jollof rice ever made.
With her track record and attention to detail, Baci’s latest culinary adventure is already shaping up to be another record-breaking success.
