I thought being a student, there are limits to the type of food you eat in school especially when you are being given pocket money from home and you want to manage what you have. I had this mentality right from when I entered into the University and seeing some set of food, it was a no go area for me especially with the stress added to it.
One of my favorites food has been limited to preparing in school except I go home during holidays. Apart from that, no one has a pestle and mortar for such food as it is required if you want to eat it.
The food is called "POUNDED YAM" that is mostly eaten in Yoruba culture. I so much love this meal but I only eat it once in a year since my mom died.
When she was alive, we eat this food twice in a week and it's my Dad that would also pound it because of the strength to use. No one except my Dad has the power to lift the pestle up as a weak person cannot pound the yam. It needs strength to do it.
So, I would always wait for December because that is the only time I would eat pounded yam in my hometown as my grandma would gladly welcome us with bowls of pounded yam with a stew that goes well with it which is Vegetable stew.
Last week, I saw a friend in the hostel who improvised cooking the pounded yam with a small mortal and pestle instead of the bigger one. That was when I started craving for it. I decided to prepare it for lunch today and I quickly went to the school mini market to get all I needed for the delicious meal. Thank God I was having small portion of yam in the house that would satisfy just a person which was me.
I prepared the vegetable with these ingredients;
- Vegetable leaves
- Palm oil
- Salt and Maggi to taste
- Pepper and onions already grated
- Locust beans
- Fish and Cow's skin
Here is the result after cooking
I sliced the yam, wash and put on the gas to cook and get soften. I borrowed the mortal and pestle. Here is it
After the yam was well cooked, I washed the mortal and pestle and started putting the yams into it and pounding.
I was still pounding it here
After pounding and mashing it to become soft and smooth, I transferred it into my plate. Ready to be eaten with vegetable stew.
Thanks for reading