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My Deluxe Yam and Plantain porridge

I stopped at the African food store and I picked up a tuber of yam, ripened plantains and Ugu vegetables. I also stopped at the supermarket to pick up pre cut chunks of fresh fish. So you know what’s next? My yam and plantain porridge dripping with fish, prawns, spicy tomatoes, and a whole long list of other things plus my secret ingredient. Have I gotten your mouth watering already? Good. A couple of readers asked for my recipe for Yam Porridge, especially for my tips on making yam porridge light and creamy with lots of sauce without being watery. To those readers, you won’t have to wait much longer and you will soon understand why I labelled it as deluxe. it is truly deluxe.

Yam and I didn’t seem to agree growing up so, boiled yam o, fried yam o, porridge o (Asaro as the Yoruba’s call it) I stayed away. Mummy tried all she could to make me eat yam and I just didn’t like it. Then my mum hired this lovely woman who was worked as our maid for years. She coaxed me into eating yam one day and I found out that hers tasted better than my mum’s and I enjoyed it. It was our little secret during the lunches she prepared during my mum’s absence. My mother ran her own business so she did not have traditional working hours, so on this fateful day she popped in during lunch and was quite surprised to see me eating yam and stew. She asked the maid how she convinced me to eat yam and she must have had a strange twinkle in her eye because my mum proceeded to take a bite out of my food and I remember that she and the maid shared a funny look but both of them didn’t say a word. I didn’t take much notice of it and in the following years I came to love eating Yam. Would you believe that the secret was sugar? Lol. I didn’t find out until my late teens when a friend casually mentioned that the best way to encourage children to eat yam was to boil it with sugar and salt. Oh, sooooooo that was what the maid did? I never knew at all. I remember saying this to my mum and she laughed. Her reason was hey, she got you eating yam didn’t she? There were no more complaints at the table from you, and you eat your breakfast or lunch without a peep from you, so win-win for everyone. So, mummy’s out there, if your children are giving you grief when you serve yam, just boil it with a little sugar in addition to salt. Honestly, it makes a lot of difference and a little sugar won’t kill them. Kids are active, so they will burn off the extra sugar.

Now, I love yam. I eat it boiled with stew, eggs or the many sauces that I make. I also cut it into chips, salt it and fry. TFC introduced Yamarita Fries and it is a genius idea. It has the same recipe as Southern Fried Chicken and I will briefly type it below, so you can switch things up in your kitchen and try something beyond simple fried yam

1. Cut the yam into thick rectangular slices

2. Beat eggs into a bowl and season it with salt, seasoning cube and cayenne pepper (dry pepper)

3. Pour flour unto a flat surface like a tray or your kitchen work top

4. Dip the yam into the bowl of eggs and ensure that it throughly coats it – do this one slice at a time

5. Take the yam out of the eggs, and roll it in flour. Shake off any excess flour and deep fry it in hot oil

…….. and that’s it really. Yamarita fries in your home. Serve with a delicious tomato and pepper sauce. P.S – I was never a staff of TFC neither am I advertising for them or poaching their recipe. They simply used an old recipe of Souther Fried Chicken which is well known by everyone. They replicated that recipe with yam and I commend them for the brilliance of that idea. I believe you should be able to replicate something you have had in a restaurant or confectionery in your home. It saves you going back there all the time and thereby saving you money. Lol

So, back to Yam and Plantain porridge. If you are wondering why add plantain, since most people just use yam, well I’m back to my secret ingredient. The Sugar Effect. Plantains provide that extra sweetness to the dish which I am now addicted to I’m afraid. If I am going to prepare Yam porridge without plantains, I add sugar for extra sweetness. Trust me, if you have never cooked this dish with sugar before try it one day and you will be pleasantly surprised.

You will need

1 dozen pieces of cubed Yam

1 ripe average sized Plantain

1 medium sized Red Onion

1 cup of Crayfish

2 -3  pieces of Ata Rodo – scotch bonnet or habanero pepper

1 Tatashe – red bell pepper

3 Tomatoes

1 sticks of  Spring Onions – scallions or salad onions

Palm Oil

1 pound of deveined Prawns

1 pound of chunky White Fish – i used Cod

1 handful of Smoked Prawns

1 handful of Smoked Fish – i used Eja Sawa

1 handful of Ugu leaves – you can use spinach to substitute 

Salt

Seasoning Cubes – Knorr Chicken cubes preferred

Getting the deluxe feeling already? This is a whole lot just for Yam Porridge, I know but hey live a little people, it is deeeeeelicious. Lol.The pictures of all the ingredients will be found on the Ingredientspeadia page HERE

How To

1. Blend the ata rodo, tomatoes and half of the red onion and set aside. Pour the pepper into a bowl, rinse the crayfish and roughly blend. Chop the spring onions into round pieces and chop the rest of the onions.

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2. Cut the yam into a dozen cubes and set aside.

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3. Pick a couple of ugu leaves of the stalk, rinse thoroughly with cold water and finely cut into shreds.

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4. Rinse all the other components – prawns (smoked and fresh), fish (smoked and fresh).

SAM_3653   for the other ingredients, just click on the Ingredientspaedia page

5. Heat up 1 – 2 cooking spoons of Palm oil in the pot, add the chopped onions and let it fry till the onions are translucent, then add the pepper, the smoked fish, smoked prawns and crayfish. Let this fry for 5 minutes till it forms a thick sauce that smells and tastes great from the fishy ingredients.

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6. Add 1 cup of water, then crush in 1 seasoning cube. Let this boil then carefully add the prawns and chunks of white fish and let this boil for 3 – 5 minutes. Once you can see that the prawns and fish have cooked, take them out. Dooney’s Kitchen Tip: you take them out because sea food only needs to be exposed to heat for a short time. You will re-introduce them to the pot later.

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7. Add 2 more cups of water, re-season with salt and 1 seasoning cube. Taste, and when you are satisfied, then add the cubed pieces of yam, cover the pot and let it boil for 15 – 20 minutes to cook the yam in this delicious fish flavoured tomato stock.

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8. Once the yams are soft, turn the heat down to low, get out the wooden spoon and start mashing. Dooney’s Kitchen Tip: you have to be very careful here if you want a good balance of creamy porridge. Some people cook porridge with a lot of tomato stock flowing from the porridge, personally I don’t  like that because it feels like I am eating yam and watery tomato stew. I love that creamy, gooey porridge feeling amidst chunks of yam.

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9. If that is what you prefer too, to achieve this you have to mentally group the yam into portions. If you have 12 big chunks, first you break each piece into half then pulverise 1/3 – 1/2 of the rest into a creamy mash, so you are left with a good balance of creamy porridge and chunks of yam

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10. Peel the skin of the plantain and cut into rounds directly into the pot, also add the chopped vegetables, and re-introduce the prawns and the cooked chunks of fish.

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You will have a thick creamy mash on your hands so add a little water to dilute it and to cook the plantain slices and vegetables. Stir to incorporate everything properly and leave to cook for 2 – 3 minutes

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…………and that’s your Yam and Plantain Porridge. Plate and sprinkle over the roundly cut spring onions

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as always, I have to show off some of my newly improved pictures, so pardon me. Lol…..

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and more pictures…………..

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So, if you have that special person that you want to spoil a little, or you’ve been thinking of a way to treat your family and you’ve been racking your head on what to prepare, well try this Deluxe Yam and Plantain porridge, and I guarantee you that they will be well taken care of.

Bon Appetite


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FILED UNDER: Uncategorized
TAGGED WITH: Nigerian porridge, plantain porridge, yam porridge

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Comments

  1. Yeh, as if you were reading my mind! Can’t wait for this recipe? I love love love you not to pieces but as whole

    Reply

  3. it looks really appealing on the plate than in the pot o. One question, since it’s know chicken cubes you use, i’ll assume your one cube is both of them wrapped together abi just one of it?

    Reply

  5. Hmmm… U r a genius,abt 2yrs ago my husband entered d kitchen & came out wit a plate of Yam & plantain(over-ripe) porridge. I was speechless cos it had never occurred 2me dt such good combination was possible & d taste ws wow. We thought we’d made d greatest discovery; so u can imagine my shock wen I saw ur deluxe Y & P porridge. Lol

    Reply

  6. Oi, I just found this blog and I’ve already bookmarked 5 pages, I’m a food/recipe-hunter and I’m happy to have found a treasure trove. You have a lovely way of presenting food and your words. <3

    Reply

    • Hi Damie, thanks for the compliment. i am looking forward to interacting with you on this blog. Don’t forget to Like Dooney’s Kitchen on Facebook

      Reply

  7. I so so love dis.
    Am one person who invent new recipes…somtimes apear funy though but can always be built or improved upon.
    Tanx Dunni.
    Hapy Sunday 🙂

    Reply

    • I actually have but I haven’t uploaded it yet. Thanks for reminding me to. I love beans and plantain

      Reply

  9. Hi dunni
    I’m presently cooking this and something just told me to check your blog if you ever made it. I like your fresh fish addition. I never thought of that. Only ever used dried fish or kpomo. I’m going to do that now.
    I’m like you in not being a fan of yam. I however found in uni that I can eat it when it’s got plantains in like this. Same for beans porridge. Used to cook this for my ex and he loved it. Still got dumped though :’)

    Reply

    • Oh yeah, I like to mash all my yam pieces. I dont like to see whole yam pieces. I guess I still haven’t accepted yam fully yet.

      Reply

    • Lol, a fellow non yam lover. My mum can tell stories for days the trouble she faced trying to feed me yam. Lol. Fresh fish was something I decided to try out, when I got three extra kg of cod for free. The fishmonger must have liked my face lol. As for the ex, he doesn’t deserve your cooking skills jare, he should keep stepping. Future hubby has got lots of goodies in store for him. Lol

      Reply

  10. I made this in the weekend but I substituted the cod with mackerel. I left out spring onions and prawns; it was delicious! My husband and I went for seconds 🙂 This is definitely a different way of cooking porridge yam for me, there’s no going back to the same old boring method. Thanks once again Dunni

    Reply

  11. Hey Dunni…I discovered your blog about a week ago and I must say you are doing a great job here. Thanks for sharing your adventurous cooking skills and numerous experiences.
    I often use a combo of yam/plantains/potatoes or plantains/potatoes (when I cant get yam) for my porridge and they taste great. You may wish to try that someday.
    Cheers and continue the good work.

    Reply

    • Hi Funke, lovely idea. I have actually never thought of using potatoes before for porridge. Thanks. I will definitely try it

      Reply

  12. Hello Dunni, thanks for your recipes. Just got to know this site, and sincerely the little i’ve seen so far makes me want to enter the kitchen at once, but that will be later after the close of office. Good work, keep it up.

    Reply

  13. Made this for my boyfriend this evening , absolutely stunning 10/10! Thanks for the recipe !will definitely be back xx

    Reply

  15. Yay…Just finished preparing dis n it looks n tastes delicious if I do say so myself 🙂 can’t wait 4 hubby to try it out, thanks 4 d recipe

    Reply

  16. I just finished preparing my porridge following your recipe, even though I didn’t have fresh fish it turned out fantastic! Thank you for sharing so freely.

    Reply

  17. Hi Dooney ,welldone. I am in the kitchen now to cook your deluxe yam and plantain porridge. I just need to know if the one cup of crayfish is fresh or smoked. Thanks

    Reply

  18. Hey Dooney,

    is yam porridge only synonymous with palm oil. I have tried it with vegetable oil and I kinda prefer it. I’m I breaking the rules here?

    newly joined ,ardent fan already

    Reply

    • No it isn’t. The vegetable oil version is actually very nice and has a somewhat sweet taste, just like it does when used in beans

      Reply

  19. Cooked this tonight tonight sans fish as I am veggie and it was absolutely delicious. Think I overdid it with the maggi though but serves me right for deviating from your perfectly laid out recipe. Will be checking out more of your recipes for sure if they are this easy to follow & as delicious to replicate!

    Reply

  20. This a yam porridge of life!!! I usually lazily chop (not even blend) the tomatoes and pepper and put everything at once in the pot with the yam. It comes out nice but definitely not as nice as this when I did it your way. I’m sticking with this method. Thanks! You just made a hungry grad student happy!

    Reply

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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.