Hello Tribe, Hello my people, Happy New Year. 2015 was so good for me and for Dooney’s Kitchen, too many blessings to count. I am looking forward to even more blessings and with you guys support and His Grace, they will surely roll in. 2015 was my dress rehearsal as a blogger. 2016, it is time for action. I hope you all had a good holiday and are looking forward to the new year with fervour and excitement.
Anyways, new year, new recipes to expect from Dooney’s Kitchen and this recipe delivers to a tee. The past few days, I have been entertaining friends, even as recent as yesterday, I had friends over with kids and my flat was buzzing and filled with chatter and laughter, which made me smile and be grateful. It gets really quiet sometimes with just my flatmate “Uncle Tom” and I, so yesterday was a really noisy day, but in a good way.
I always entertain with pounded yam, like it is my default starchy staple. From Pounded yam with Bitter Leaf Egusi, to Pounded Yam with Omebe – Black soup to Pounded Yam with Alhaja Modinat’s Buka Stew and Buka Ewedu yesterday, Le Kitchen was very busy. You can see all the dishes on the @dooneyskitchen Instagram page, including videos too. Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram, so you don’t miss out. In fact, I even pounded yam with a mortar and pestle yesterday because my friends dared me to, saying I did not know how to pound yam the traditional way, and I am just a modern cook with no local skills. That’s like waving a red flag in front of a bull. I brought out the mortar and pestle, and stuck my tongue out afterwards.
Like, don’t try me o. Was it worth the effort, not really, did I prove a point? Heck yeah. Mortar and pestle have been stored away until 2017. I only pound yam once a year. hahahahahahahaha.
While I am the ultimate feeder when I entertain, despite my prodding to have more, have more, sometimes I am left with a little pounded yam, usually about a fist full that mostly gets binned, but you see yesterday I decided not to because you get many food programmes on TV during Christmas season showing you what to do with Christmas dinner leftovers and something caught my eye. What to do with leftover potato mash which is a common staple served with Turkey during Christmas and many homes just bin leftovers afterwards. What do you do with leftover potato mash, make potato pancakes of course. So, when I had leftover pounded yam yesterday, I looked at it and smiled coyly. I am going to redefine the classic Nigerian breakfast – Yam and Eggs.
We have been eating this combination for breakfast for goodness knows how long, so how about I try something else with the exact same ingredients. I swear when I was making this it was smelling like, you guessed it, yam and eggs. If you walked into the flat while I was making this, you would automatically assume I was cooking yam and eggs. So, imagine you announce to your family one morning that you are serving yam and eggs for breakfast and they get to the table and see pancakes or waffles or toasties. The looks on their faces would be priceless and if you have kids of school age, you will be the coolest mum in the school yard when your kids tell everyone they had yam and egg pancakes for breakfast, with photo evidence to prove it. This is so simple to make, it wouldn’t even take too much time out of your busy morning routine and even more special on weekends.
2015 was the year of The Akara Waffle and Akara Toasties. Soooooooo many of you tried it, Dooney’s Kitchen Social media pages and Facebook food groups were buzzing about it, I was getting tags from all over the world, and excited feedback. I hope I can get you excited about Yam Pancakes, Yam Waffles and Yam Toasties. I mean, look at that. Tell me you are not excited to try it…..
Let’s Cook.
- Boiled Yam
- Chopped mixed veg - onions, chilies, spring onions, bell peppers etc
- 2 eggs - or more depending on how much yam you have
- Salt
- Seasoning cubes - optional
- Vegetable oil
- If you have leftover pounded yam, that will be excellent as you have skipped stage 1. If you don't, just boil your yam as normal
and use a potato masher or a food processor to turn it into mash - Add the chopped vegetables. I used onions, bell pepper, ata rodo (scotch bonnet/habanero pepper) and spring onions to make it colourful.
- Add the eggs.
Depending on how much yam you have, I say a minimum of two eggs to start with. If you are making it for just yourself, start with 1. , then work your way to two eggs if the batter is too thick. There is no water in this recipe. The key is, the batter must be thick. If it is too watery, the pancake will break apart when you try to flip it, and it may spill into a mess if you use a waffle maker or sandwich toaster. I have added pictures of the batter so you can see the consistency you should be working with.. Depending on how much pepper you add, your batter may be pale or pink - Once it is thick and gloopy, season with salt and/or seasoning cubes.
- Heat up a non stick or in this case a cast iron pan with a little oil as you would a regular pancake. Scoop on the batter and use the back of the spoon to spread it out into a wider circle. Because this recipe has no flour in it, you will be best making mini thick pancakes, otherwise the pancake will split when you try to flip it over. So, you need a sufficiently thick, but not too thick pancake.
- I will advice that you cook this on medium heat to allow the pancakes cook properly on one side without burning, so you can flip it over to cook the other side without breaking the pancake. Having a frying spoon that is wide enough for the pancake to sit on comfortably before you flip also helps it stay intact.
- When both sides have browned, take it out of the pan and repeat the process. This is a soft very yummy pancake, when you get crispy edges too, double yum.
- To make Yam Toasties, easy peasy. Grease your sandwich toaster and scoop on the batter when the light turns green and it is hot enough.
. Cover the toaster and come back after a few minutes. Voila------ toasties.. The longer you leave it in the toaster, the browner it gets, and you get crispy delicious edges to boot - To make Yam Waffles, repeat the process above.
- Get yourself and the family excited about breakfast. I had a big grin on my face when I made these. I couldn't believe how simple they were.
and use a potato masher or a food processor to turn it into mash
I used onions, bell pepper, ata rodo (scotch bonnet/habanero pepper) and spring onions to make it colourful.
Depending on how much yam you have, I say a minimum of two eggs to start with. If you are making it for just yourself, start with 1. 
The key is, the batter must be thick. If it is too watery, the pancake will break apart when you try to flip it, and it may spill into a mess if you use a waffle maker or sandwich toaster. I have added pictures of the batter so you can see the consistency you should be working with.
. Depending on how much pepper you add, your batter may be pale or pink
Having a frying spoon that is wide enough for the pancake to sit on comfortably before you flip also helps it stay intact.
This is a soft very yummy pancake, when you get crispy edges too, double yum.
. Cover the toaster and come back after a few minutes. Voila------ toasties.
. The longer you leave it in the toaster, the browner it gets, and you get crispy delicious edges to boot
Make your pancakes even more sweet by drizzling some honey all over them
Are you still a little dazed. Don’t worry, you can make these at home. Yam Toasties for 2016…….
Serve with a complementary boiled egg if you wish
Wow…well done Dooney. Am a first timmer here. My aunt and sis in law told me abt ur fb page and instagram. So glad I took my time to check it out. Will definitely try this tomorrow. By God’s grace. More Grace.
Wow. The yam and egg redefining process is really simple but very kitchen skill innovative. I love it and I’m on it Dooney. You’re one inspiration I get when I want to get experimental in the kitchen. I’m on Nigerian traditional dishes, and imnlooking up to you. Emmie’s kitchen is young but with you and your culinary skills, we’d do better. I love your work and your flow of words that makes everything even more easy. I’m your big fan and I hope one day you’ll pay us a visit at Emmie’s Kitchen Lagos Nigeria. Thank you and God bless you.
Keep up the good work Dooney. I have yet to try it, but im sure it will taste lovely, hopefully my kids love it.
wow! this is lovely , thanks for sharing. am going to try it this weekend.God bless you Donney
Really! Dooney is there anything you post that is not world class? I say this sincerely that you are the best thing to happen to Nigerian foods . I am quite sure you can whip up a recipe with just water. I desire to one day meet you in person. May your ability to think be greater in Jesus name, and may you get to whatever height you can dream of. I will surely prepare this for my wife, hopefully on Monday. May God Almighty bless you richly.
You are simply amazing dunni. I love d boldness u bring to d kitchen and just d mention of yam and egg pancakes got my kids hounding me for it cos they enjoyed ur crepes and plantain pancakes. I have made dem a promise I intend to keep dis weekend, wld kip u posted..
Hi Dunni, amazing! I want to try this with my Yam flour ( OlaOla). No boiling, just mixing with the ingredients and then frying / toasting. What do you think? Will it work?
Hi Kels, honestly i wouldn’t know how it would turn out. i haven’t touched poundo flour in almost 5 years.
Hello DunI
Amust seeing this woah you are the best am trying this. …..
Thanks alot
Hello Dunni,Lovely!! I must say. Am new on your blog. Pls where in Nigeria can I get a waffle maker. I really want to try this with a waffle maker. Thanks sweet.
hi lammy, try shoprite