• New Reader
  • About
    • Introducing Dooney
    • Meet the team
    • Press and Media
    • Work with Us
  • Contact
  • The Tribe
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Google+
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter

Dooney's Kitchen

Promoting and Redefining New Nigerian Food

  • Home
  • Features
    • Announcements
    • Corporate Collaborations
    • Product Reviews
    • Food Blogger Events
    • Business Spotlight
    • Hotel & Restaurant Reviews
    • Fitness and Nutrition
    • Market Reporting
    • Comment’s Policy
    • Copyright & Privacy Policy
  • Tricks & Cheats
    • Kitchen Gadget Tricks
    • How To’s
    • Food Plating Techniques
    • Cooking Video Hacks
  • Meal Planner
    • Meal Planner Archives
    • Hosting Menus
    • Festive Meal Planner
  • Food Diary
    • Dooney’s Food Travels
    • dooney’s shopping list
  • Recipeadia
    • Recipes by Culture
    • Recipe Collections
  • Ingredientspaedia

Kitchen Gadget Tricks

How to make Pounded Yam using a blender

You read that correctly. Read it first before you knock it. I promise you, you will be pleasantly surprised, and possibly shocked. Believe me, I was shocked too. Many of you probably already know that you can make Pounded Yam in a Food Processor. Click HERE for instructions. I would like to take a little credit for re-discovering that and bringing it back to people’s consciousness. Just a little credit. Hahahahahaha. Well, there has been some progress to that effect. I used to believe only a dough blade could produce smooth, stretchy pounded yam, But I have been proven wrong. I have even tested it myself countless times, and yes people, the knife blade produces gorgeous pounded yam.

Another tool you can use to make stress free and hot made in a flash pounded yam is to use a Stand Mixer. Yes, the type for making cakes, dough etc.

1969177_10153834281250244_1862677617_n

You only need two attachments. The dough hook and the flat beater.

1656164_10153834318680244_925317828_n

dough hook on the left, beater on the right.

Some say use the beater to mash the yam and then finish off with the dough hook to form it into a ball, others reverse the process. I have seen living proof of both, so choose whichever method works for you. I will soon be in possession of a stand mixer, and I will make pounded yam and post pictures.

Do, you know that you can also use a Hand Mixer to make pound yam? Yes you can. If your hand mixer comes with the long thin dough hook, it will also make very stretchy pounded yam in minutes. I have even experimented with my Hand Blender. Not the blender itself mind you, but the chopper bowl. Most hand blenders come with 2 extra attachments. The whisk and the chopper bowl. I have a picture of the chopper bowl HERE. It is quick and handy kitchen tool to cut down chopping time to seconds. You can also use it to make pounded yam.

Image

the long bit on top is the hand blender motor. It has removable attachments. In this picture, I attached the big chopper bowl. See the knife blade in the bowl? Yes, it makes pounded yam. Will put up pictures in my Afia Efere (white soup) post.

Today though, I am going totally off-board. You have to praise the ingenuity of Nigerian women. A member of SYTCC, Titi posted a picture of pounded yam made in her blender, but not just an ordinary blender but a Ninja blender. A Ninja blender is a little special because the blade is not flat, like traditional blenders. Its own blade is really long and thin. See picture below. When I saw the picture, I said of course, this can make pounded yam easy peasy. This is not a traditional blender.

hero-NJ600

image courtesy: www.ninjakitchen.com

A few weeks later, someone came with a claim that she made pounded yam using a traditional blender, and I was really quite skeptical. Unfortunately the pictures attached weren’t clear and I shrugged it off, but recently other women have been making claims, but with no pictures attached and I thought hmmmmn, this one I have to try to believe. Not many things challenge me like food does. To say I was astounded is probably an understatement. I had to use the Motion Capture mode of my camera to shoot live pictures, so you would believe it.

I can confidently tell you that it works, and I will point at how, with extra tips and what to look out for. If you feel you have been marginalised, because you don’t have any of the devices I stated above, well you are in luck now. Welcome to the Club of Real Pounded Yam eaters. I have to insist though that by watching how it makes this, your blender has to have a powerful motor, because it will struggle at the beginning and possibly burn out. I don’t want to be responsible for anyone having to buy a new blender. I will go so far as to recommend from 300W – 400W upwards. I stand corrected, I had initially written 600W. I always thought my blender was 600W. I just checked the Philips Website, and it is 300W.  If you have a low wattage blender, like mine, unless you have been using it for ages and trust it, be careful. Caveat Emptor i.e. be warned. Oh, one more big ups for my blender. I have been using it since 2007 and it has done everything. It can also be used to peel the skin off beans. Yes it can, Yes it ca. Click HERE for instructions

How To 

1. Cut the yam into pieces and boil. When it has cooked through, cut into smaller pieces, using a table knife, while the yams are still in the pot. This is essential. You want to make sure they are hot, so at no time should you take the yams out and cut on a plate. Turn the heat down to low, to ensure the yams remain hot and go get your blender.

IMG_7283_watermarked

2. Add 2 – 3 pieces of yam to the blender, cover it and turn it on for a few seconds and stop. DO NOT add water. Repeat it again for a few seconds and stop. This is to protect the engine. With each session of the engine being on, you will see the blades crush the yam and start to form a ball.

IMG_7284_watermarked

Dooney’s Kitchen Tip: i will recommend that you experiment first with this, to see how it works. Don’t get too excited. Start with a few pieces from start to finish, then you can get bolder. See pictures below. The yams have been crushed and are forming into a ball. Give yourself a few seconds to be amazed. Hehehehehehe. Keep at it for a few seconds and that ball will turn smooth and proper like pounded yam. I was too amazed to take the picture of the complete product.

IMG_7288_watermarked

3. Scoop out the ball, and start again. This time, with 3 pieces, repeat step two, but this time, after the first few seconds of blending, when you can see that the yams have crushed, open the blender and leave it open. See picture below. Once you have this, you know you are good to go. Stop the blender, add a few more pieces of yam and repeat the dance again, until you have quite enough crushed yams in the blender, then you keep the engine running and let it pull together.

IMG_7297_watermarked

4. The crushed yam pieces will go from the picture you can see above, to the one below. Here is where my Motion Capture component comes in. See people, how shocking is that? As the engine is rotating the blades, the crushed yam will be pulled together to form a ball, and that ball will be rolling around, and rolling around, and stretching to form pounded yam. The flipping thing works.

IMG_7290_watermarked

Still in shock? Enlarge the picture if you want. Loooool.

IMG_7291_watermarked

See it rolling and stretching, and rolling and stretching, and rolling and stretching. All this is happening in a very short space of time.

IMG_7292_watermarked

…………….and there you have it. Pounded Yam. Do you believe now?

IMG_7310_watermarked

Because you are going to have to scoop out with your hands, it will be a little messy on the plate, so I advice you scoop it out unto a plastic sheet, you know the types we wrap starchy solids in, or even a rinsed supermarket bag. Once you have all the pounded yam done, cover it in the plastic wrap, and mould in your hands to look pretty, and that’s all.

Yes, it is probably a little fiddly than the other devices, because you have to start slow first before it kicks into a ball, but who cares really. You get your hot pounded yam, without spending extra money on another kitchen device. The beauty of this is that, I not only used old leftover yam which had been sitting on my kitchen cart for days in this cold weather, making it even more tough, it was also the bottom part of the yam, which traditionally is quite difficult to make pounded yam with because it tends to be much tougher and more fibrous. So, even with tough yam, it works. Well, this isn’t manual pounding, an engine is involved. BOOM!!!!

IMG_7311_watermarked

We now have a list of devices, pick which ever you want

Food Processor

Stand Mixer

Hand Mixer

Hand Blender Chopper Bowl- see above.

Ninja Blender

See v

Traditional blender

I can already imagine many of you rushing out to buy yam this weekend. Well good, it’s about time. Throw away your packet of Poundo Flour while you are at it. Please try it and send me pictures. Welcome to the club of The Real Pounded Yam Eaters.


106 Comments

Subscribe

Get all the latest recipes straight to your inbox

FILED UNDER: Kitchen Gadget Tricks
TAGGED WITH: how to make Pounded Yam in a blender, Pounded yam in a bender
Dooney

About Dooney

Dooney is the blogger, recipe developer and photographer for Dooney's Kitchen. I spend my days trying to figure out creative ways to redefine Nigerian food, either by creating a new dish itself using ingredients in ways that have never been used before, or changing the approach to Nigerian cooking using kitchen gadgets.

Related

If this is your first time commenting on Dooney's Kitchen, please take a moment to read our comment policy.

« The 9ja pull apart Dinner rolls
Banga Soup – Delta version »

Comments

  1. AvatarLexie says

    February 28, 2014 at 10:57 pm

    Dooney, this has been a debate in our home for ages never tried, I think I might try it n if it works I will come and find you and give you the biggest hug and kiss ever 🙂 AMA ooooo AMA 🙂

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      February 28, 2014 at 11:49 pm

      Aaaaaaw, my Ghanian sister, please try and let me know

      Reply
  2. AvatarBukkie says

    February 28, 2014 at 11:44 pm

    Thank you for this Dunnie.I was thinking about using my Ninja blender to make pounded yam last night and my husband was like you better don’t spoil it, you know it’s expensive.I have the type shown above, I will post the picture with my Kale Riro when I’m done.You are simply the best…

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      February 28, 2014 at 11:48 pm

      Oh, wonderful. Please post the picture

      Reply
      • AvatarBukkie says

        March 5, 2014 at 1:22 am

        So Dunnie, I finally made my pounded yam tonight . Permit me to say this, my Ninja blender is the best, I didn’t have to do a lot, I just put everything at once and it came out really good.I am still dancing Azonto:-).I have pictures but can’t post them here for you to see.

        Reply
        • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

          March 5, 2014 at 3:48 pm

          Aaaaaw, well done and welcome to the club of real pounded yam eaters

          Reply
  3. Avataradanne says

    March 1, 2014 at 4:15 pm

    Sometimes the best part of your blog is the comments. We really do appreciate you Dunni. I’m a poundo flour lover mainly because yam is so expensive where I am but I’m tempted to convert lol

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      March 1, 2014 at 7:46 pm

      Please convert o, it is worth it

      Reply
  4. AvatarAbi says

    March 1, 2014 at 10:13 pm

    Dooney, this is fab! May be we should sell online yam this wkend. Just saw few friends buying yam n that’s how I got d tip to check this
    out. U are cooking girl. KUDOS N TNX Xxx

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      March 2, 2014 at 12:37 am

      I knew it. I knew it. I knew loads of people will be buying yam this weekend. Loooool. Happy to help. I hope it turns out great for you.

      Reply
  5. Avatarissy says

    March 3, 2014 at 2:41 pm

    My blender clearly says do not pour hot contents into blender. should i diss this warning as we Africans usually do a lot or should 🙂 or i wait for my yam to cool down.

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      March 3, 2014 at 4:10 pm

      LOL. Errrr, ignore that thing abeg. Mine also says the same for my food processor. It has been churning hot pounded yam since 2011

      Reply
  6. Avataroki joy says

    March 3, 2014 at 8:47 pm

    Dis woman u re too much!

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      March 3, 2014 at 9:43 pm

      Aaaaaw, thanks

      Reply
  7. AvatarFELICIA says

    March 6, 2014 at 5:04 pm

    its awesome, and its very good hope is not stressful. thanks a lot i de enjoy you keep up the good work.

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      March 6, 2014 at 5:05 pm

      Thank you Felicia

      Reply
  8. Avataraisha says

    March 9, 2014 at 7:27 pm

    dooney!!!!!! 😀 😀 😀
    i just tried this and it worked beautifully! i have been dancing in my kitchen for the past 5 mins, the pounded yam don cold sef!
    many thanks to you dea for giving a new dimension to nigerian cooking 🙂

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      March 9, 2014 at 8:13 pm

      Aaaaaw, well done you. I smiled when I read this. Enjoy the Euphoria. No more Poundo flour for you

      Reply
  9. Avataroluwadamilola says

    March 10, 2014 at 5:29 pm

    dooney i tried this twice, thou it was edible, it had some lumps.what did i do wrong?
    thanks for bringing out d better cook in me.

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      March 10, 2014 at 8:57 pm

      The yams were probably not soft enough. If it still has white threads in it, when you break a piece of boiled yam into two, you need to let it cook for slightly longer. SOrry to hear about that. Just yesterday, I saw the results of 2 people who tried it and it was perfect. I hope you try again. Big Hugs

      Reply
  10. AvatarHafsah says

    March 10, 2014 at 6:22 pm

    Hi Dooney, I tried the pounded Yam using my 500W Kenwood blender, it turned out too sticky and not firm like it is in ur picture. It was runny kind of. Had to wait for it to cool down before it became hard and started tasting like real pounded Yam, because at first it was like the mashed potatoes u get at KFC just + the stickiness. Na so e suppose be abi I made a mistake sumwhere? Thnks.

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      March 10, 2014 at 8:54 pm

      Sticky pounded yam is probably due to the yams boiling for too long, till the point the water left in the pot is thick and slimy. When you pound yams that are at that point, your result will likely be sticky and very runny, almost like mashed potatoes. Sorry to hear about that, I hope you try it again, and watch the yam closely.

      Reply
      • AvatarHafsah says

        March 10, 2014 at 9:11 pm

        I definitely will try again by God’s grace, and that until I become a pro. Thanks a lot dooney.

        Reply
        • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

          March 11, 2014 at 11:55 pm

          You will with practice. All the best

          Reply
  11. AvatarHafsah says

    March 11, 2014 at 4:42 pm

    My blender stopped working since I made my (mashed) pounded Yam yesterday. Oh my! Why did I get mine all wrong? 🙁

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      March 11, 2014 at 10:46 pm

      I think it was one or two things or even both. The yams were not soft enough and you left the blender running for too long. You only need it on for a few seconds and a time. Sorry about that

      Reply
      • AvatarHafsah says

        March 18, 2014 at 3:12 pm

        I got my blender fixed and tried again, this time, I put it on for a few seconds at a time. Yeepeee! I got it right this time. Thanks Dooney.

        Reply
        • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

          March 19, 2014 at 6:04 pm

          Well done Hafsah, pleased you had the courage to try again

          Reply
  12. AvatarBlessing says

    March 14, 2014 at 11:33 am

    I am so in love with you Dunni (no homo). I used your recipe for ogbono, fried and jollof rice a while back and mehn, hubby was really impressed. I’ve also been making peppersoup frequently after I read your blog. There so many recipes I want to try out but I’m on a diet *sadface* and I don’t like to cook much when I’m on a diet because I love to eat, I don’t have the discipline of cooking and not eating. God bless your good work.

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      March 14, 2014 at 12:52 pm

      Aaaaaw, thank you Blessing. Amen to your pryaers, and I wish you the same

      Reply
  13. AvatarMeg says

    March 15, 2014 at 4:42 pm

    Dear Dunni, nice one, I cant wait to try it, lol.

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      March 15, 2014 at 11:56 pm

      Please do and let me know

      Reply
  14. AvatarJennifer says

    March 16, 2014 at 10:41 am

    Wow Dooneyyyyy,

    Love, love, love….

    Made my pounded yam yesterday using a 350W Binatone blender. I did my happy dance while at it. My dad could not believe it because I earlier told him we would need a food processor which is obviously more expensive, all thanks to you we don’t need to spend so much to get stress free pounded yam.

    Since you listed a Hand blender Chopper bowl as one of the devices that can be used, can I use a mannual swizzz prozzz chopper to get the same result – pounded yam?

    Thanks again.

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      March 16, 2014 at 10:43 pm

      You know what Jennifer, I am going to use your comment as reference from henceforth. I got many doubting thomases regarding this post, and yours is just a shining example. A bin atone 35oW blender for tham matter. You are so brave, and I have to commend you seriously. WELL DONE. Since it is manual, I doubt if it will work. You can prove me wrong though and try it.

      Reply
  15. AvatarOluwaseun says

    March 18, 2014 at 10:27 pm

    I’m too amazed.
    Come April 10, hubby will be super duper happy.

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      March 19, 2014 at 6:03 pm

      Yes o. he will

      Reply
  16. AvatarRuby says

    March 21, 2014 at 2:08 am

    I’m already excited. Pounding isn’t my strong point but love pounded yam. Quick question: if I’m going to use a hand mixer with the dough hook, do I not need to use the beater at all? Thanks

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      March 21, 2014 at 2:20 pm

      I tell you, this works. Just be careful with your blender. Only leave it on for a few seconds at a time. All the best

      Reply
  17. AvatarEloho says

    March 24, 2014 at 12:52 pm

    Waoh! Will try this and post pictures. So enjoying this page. U’re doin a great job. Well done.

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      March 24, 2014 at 3:31 pm

      Thank you Eloho. Please try it and let me know

      Reply
  18. AvatarToun lawal says

    April 2, 2014 at 4:38 am

    Hi Dunni, thanks a lot, your website has really been helpful and I send the link to friends like I’m a marketer. I ran my ken wood for long and it got spoilt even though the outcome was fabulous and I’m still happy about it. Please what products of food processor and blender would you recommend. Thanks

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      April 2, 2014 at 2:29 pm

      Aaaaaaaw, thank you Toun for spreading the word. I truly appreciate it. I know you would probably wince again, but I will recommend Kenwood again, or Philips. Those are the two brands I would trust.

      Reply
  19. Avataroyin says

    April 16, 2014 at 3:36 pm

    its still ve particles or lumps and blender is smelling as if about to burn,so scared you know.

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      April 16, 2014 at 5:29 pm

      Stop using the machine then. Looks like the yams were either not soft enough, or you put too much

      Reply
  20. AvatarVicoluremi says

    June 3, 2014 at 2:49 pm

    Thank u Dooney. I sure must try this.

    Reply
« Older Comments
Newer Comments »

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

ATTENTION: Please do not include links in your comments. Any comment that has a link in it will be destroyed on sight.

Oh Hi There

Hi, my name is Dunni Obata, and I am what you would call the poster child for redefining Nigerian food. Welcome to Dooney's Kitchen, the home of Nigerian centric food, detailed recipes and sharing personal stories. Read more...

Stay updated!

Get all the latest tasty goodness straight to your inbox!

Dooney's Kitchen
Dooney's Kitchen

Recent Comments

  • Margery on Alapa – my Grandmother’s Palm Oil Stew
  • Sean on The famous Ewa Aganyin – my journey to getting it right
  • Dooney on Puff Puff and Cocktails – a new era for our national favourite chops
  • Dooney on Edikaikong – A traditional Calabar recipe
  • Dooney on The Orange Eba

Must Reads

Introducing Our Thoughts and You

Meal Drop Off and Pick Up service

Sponsor

Popular Categories

  • Rice Dishes
  • Traditional Nigerian Soups
  • Stews
  • Yam, Plantain and Pottage Dishes
  • Snacks
  • Healthy Nigerian

Most Popular Recipes

Etinkeni Mmong Ikong

Ayamase – Ofada Stew

Party Jollof rice

Ogbono soup redefined!!!!

Buka Stew

Latest Recipes

The Battle of the Saucepans Begins on Knorr Taste Quest 4

Tomatoeless Stew

Yajichurri Meatballs Sauce and Linguine

Schwartz Uk Ebook – Jollof rice and Chicken Ayilata made the cut

STAY CONNECTED


@Dooneyskitchen

@DOONEYSKITCHENTRIBE

The Official Instagram page of the online community, Dooney's Kitchen Tribe. To showcase a collection of the best and yummiest pictures of our Tribers

FEATURED

myTaste.com myTaste.ng alldishes.co.uk Tasty Query - recipes search engine
Foodies100 Index of UK Food Blogs
Foodies100

Konga Verified Blogger

Get all the latest recipes straight to your inbox

Dooney’s Favourites

Asun (spicy smoked goat meat)

Vanilla Honeybean Milk

The Dooney’s Kitchen guide to amazing Puff Puff

Ugu Smoothie

Surf and Turf Otong Soup

Nigerian food, is bold, multi faceted, rich, colourful, spicy and with varied nuances, as you move from tribe to tribe. To describe Nigerian cooking, one would say it is fiercely traditional and somewhat dogmatic, but Dooney’s Kitchen proposes to simplify methods and steps that have been passed from generation to generation whilst also challenging some of these methods using Technology. The New Nigerian Cookery isn’t just about creating a New Nigerian Kitchen, or should we say a more technology aware Nigerian cooking experience, but it encompasses redefining recipes too. Come along on the journey, and welcome to one of the best online resources for Nigerian food.

Copyright © 2021· UNAUTHORISED USE OF ANY IMAGES OR CONTENT IS NOT ALLOWED. LEGAL REDRESS WILL BE SOUGHT AND I ALWAYS WIN

Copyright © 2021 · Divine Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in