Recipe and useful tips on how to make Poundo Yam

Nigeria is famous for unique recipes that are popular not only all around Africa but in Europe and the United States as well. Jollof rice, Akara, Suya, Moin Moin - all of these delicious dishes are trademarks of the Nigerian cuisine. Poundo yam is an especially important recipe since it can serve as a fantastic side dish to dozens of soups or other meals. Do you know how to make the tastiest poundo yam imaginable? Continue reading to find out!

What is poundo yam?

Pounded yam is a traditional Nigerian recipe that is most commonly served with a variety of local soups. Out of all other fufu dishes, poundo yam is definitely the most “stretchy one,” especially if you cook it the right way.

There are two basic approaches to preparing pounded yam. For the first one, all you have to do is to buy the yam flour, add it to hot water and stir it for a couple of minutes on a stove. The other way is to prepare it from the start and make it with your hands. Anyone who has tried the latter will assure you that it is by far the more superior strategy to make pounded yam. So let’s talk more about cooking it yourself.

Traditional poundo yam recipe in 7 easy steps

READ ALSO: How to make Kuli Kuli?

To prepare pounded yam, you start by slicing white yam into bits. Then you boil those pieces in a pot until their done. Next, you have to pound the yam with a mortar and pestle until it’s turned into dough. Seems pretty straightforward, doesn’t it?

Well, actually it is not that easy. If it were, people would not be buying yam flour instead. Making a nicely-mashed pounded yam without any lumps is a real challenge for most people. To help you we’ve prepared a step-by-step instruction that will make the process easier.

1. Slice up a white yam into pieces. The smaller the cubes – the less work for you later.

2. Boil the yam pieces in the pot until they’re done. To know that they are finished cooking – try to stick a knife into one of them. If you can do it with ease – it’s time to take them out.

Tip: If you want to be confident that the yam is ready for the next step – take out one piece and try to mash it in a mortar.

3. Now put as many slices as you can pound in one go into the mortar and start mashing them.

Tip: Don’t throw away the water. You’ll need it soon.

4. To destroy the smaller lumps, move little doses of the poundo to one end of the mortar, while simultaneously applying pressure with the pestle.

Tip: Even if it gets tough to get rid of the lumps, don’t add any water. Don’t surrender because otherwise, you will ruin the dish and all of the work will be for nothing.

5. After you’ve gotten rid of all the lumps it’s time to add water. Add as much as you need, until you have the consistency you want.

Tip: This is where you use the saved water from before – its warmth helps the poundo yam to maintain its stretchiness.

6. Now it’s time to fold your pounded yam on a plate to give it its final shape.

7. Voila, your poundo yam is ready and waiting to be served with any dish you want!

How to make pounded yam with food processor

Even though the recipe above does allow you to streamline the cooking process, it still isn’t ideal. The time and effort that is needed to prepare poundo yam has made a lot of people cross it out of their day-to-day menus. So how can you keep eating this dish, without having to resort to the inferior yam flour?

Thankfully, we live in the 21st century and humanity has found a way to let you enjoy pounded yam in its richest taste, without sacrificing your time and energy. It turns out, you can make terrific poundo yam with a quality food processor such as a blender or a mixer! If you use such technology, you keep your hands clean from the tedious mashing and pounding, while you focus on eating the delicious result.

The recipe for making pounded yam with a food processor is largely the same as the previous one, but only up to a certain point. Once you’ve done cooking the yam in the pot, spend a minute of your time mashing the slices with a knife or a fork, so that the blender blades have an easier time of doing the rest of the work for you.

Next, put the pre-pounded yam into your food processor and turn it on for about 6-10s and then pause. Keep doing this step until your yam starts looking like dough. Now take the poundo out and proceed to fold and shape it on a plate until you get the right form. That’s it – your pounded yam is ready for eating!

Tip: As we've previously mentioned, poundo yam is traditionally eaten with different Nigerian soups. The most popular of these include Nsala and Egusi soup.

READ ALSO: How to cook Egusi soup?

Source: Naij.com