YAM PORRIDGE

Yam is not a frequent meal on my menu but whenever am cooking it, I try to make it very interesting, not just for me but for the family as well. Living in the UK, it is difficult to buy everything I need for my African dishes, due to scarcity. This is why I always seem to cook most of our dishes with fewer ingredients but they come out very beautifully! So here is my take on yam porridge (Ji ngwo-ngwo)!

INGREDIENTS

green vegetable also known as Jamaician callaloo

½ medium size yam

Green vegetable/callaloo (any quantity)

1½ onion

2/3cup of Palm oil

2 knorr cubes

Salt

½ kg of goat meat

PREPARATIONS

Pluck out the leaves of the vegetable from the stem and discard the stem;

wash the leaves and cut them, set aside.

In a medium, add the meat, 1 knorr cube, salt, cut in ½ onion; add water to the meat, just a little above the meat level, and then cook until tender. Remove the meat and set aside. Freeze the stock for future use. Peel out the back of the yam, slice and dice each slice into 4.

In medium pot, put in the yam and add water. The water level should be a little above the yam; add a teaspoon of salt and cook until yam is soft and cooked.

With the aid of a sieve, drain the water and set aside.

In a clean pot, pour in the oil and heat up for couple of seconds, has to be hot enough to fry the onions; then add the onions, fry for few seconds, and then add the meat, followed by the yam and sprinkle half of the knorr cube.

Turn, reduce the gas and cover the pot, this enables the yam soak up a little bit of the palm oil. You could allow this for over a minute; then add the vegetables and the remaining cube, then turn, turn again and again…

The reason for turning as much as one can, is to enable the yam bring out its crumbs which helps the cooking to turn into yam porridge.

Serve hot and enjoy…