When it comes to Jollof rice, a staple of West African cuisine, there's hot debate as to who cooks it the best.
Those from Senegal, where the one-pot dish originated, think their recipes reign supreme.
But Nigerian-born Cassandra Poroye Benson Adewusi begs to differ.
"People say Nigeria does the best Jollof," she said.
"In Nigeria we've got more people, so more people eat rice."
On Saturday evening Ms Adewusi will go head to head with cooks from Senegal, Sierra Leone and Ghana for a "Jollof rice war" as part of the inaugural Locale Festival.
The cultural festival runs from July 14 to 24 across the Cumberland area in western Sydney.
A family recipe
Ms Adewusi's recipe has been passed down from her grandmother, mother and aunties.
She said the family had a "secret trick" to the dish she was trying to teach her sons, but she wouldn't reveal it to ABC Radio Sydney.
"I can't tell you," she laughed.
Every Jollof rice dish is different; each one depending on the spices available in each area of West Africa.
"My tribe is Yoruba and we eat a lot of pepper, like habanero pepper, but we can't make it with that pepper here," Ms Aedwusi said.
"We eat it very spicy ... It cleanses. Once you smell the aromas your nose runs."
Cooking Jollof
The basic ingredients of Ms Adewusi's dish are capsicum, onions, plum tomatoes and rice.
She cooks the rice in the sauce until it soaks in entirely and then covers the dish with foil to make the rice steam.
She also uses ginger, garlic and a type of stock cube produced in Nigeria.
The rice is usually eaten with fried plantain, sometimes called cooking banana, and moin moin — a bean cake made with blended beans, spices, onions, peppers and wrapped in a special type of leaf that Ms Adewusi said she hadn't been able to find in Australia.
"It's nostalgic, it makes you remember home," she said.
"It feels like you're not leaving all your culture behind as I've been brought up quite westernised because of travel and I grew up in the city."
The Jollof Rice Wars will be held from 6:00pm at Auburn Town Hall on Saturday.
