Happy New Week, guys! Another day to make it right, go out there and flourish! So, Yam and Plantain porridge or pottage (either of the two is correct)is on the menu today, this is a very popular food in Nigeria. Yam can be eaten boiled, fried, roasted, to make pounded yam or use in porridge/pottage as in this recipe.
I added plantain to it because it adds additional flavor and taste to it. Porridge can be prepared without plantains (which I will post very soon) or any proteins but I chose to add spinach, fish, and shrimps to elevate the taste. You can add a little oil or as much as you want, also I like my plantain all cooked down all I want but if you want, the plantain in chunks add it towards the end when the yam is almost fully cooked.
You can absolutely add anything or cooked the porridge without any proteins or seafood as stated earlier, the mashing of the yam will depend on how you want the yam in almost smooth paste or in chunks.
- 1 Small Tuber of Puna Yam Peeled and cubed
- 1 plantain
- 3 Fish Fillets
- 1/2 Pound Shrimps (Deveined, peeled/unpeel)
- 1/2 Cup Shredded Fish
- 1/2 Cup Spinach
- 1 Red Bell
- 2 Habanero/Rodo
- 1 Big Onion (divided)
- Palm oil (as little or as much as you want)
- Knorr seasoning cube/powder
- Salt
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Get all the ingredients ready.
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Slice the yam, peel, and cube
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Soak in a bowl of water and set aside.
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Deseed the red bell pepper and rinse habanero. Blend together with half of the onion to smooth paste.
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Heat up palm oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Slice the remaining of the onion and add to the hot oil.
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Add the blended pepper and mix.
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Add the shredded fish and the fish fillets.
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Also, add the clean shrimps. I only deveined I didn't peel you can peel if you're using shrimps and you want it peeled.
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Add seasoning powder and salt. Cover and let the fish and the shrimps cooked.
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Remove the shrimps and fish unto a cleaned plate and set aside.
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Peel the plantain by cutting off the tips (bottom and top) then slash/cut straight down with a knife, slice or dice then add the plantain and yam to the pepper mix. Cover and cook until soft. I added the plantain together with the yam because I want it melted into the yam if you like the plantains chunks you can add towards the end when the yam is about to fully cooked.
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Add the spinach or any vegetable you're using to the mixture and check for the seasonings. Reseason if necessary.
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Mash the yam mixture and this depends on how you want your porridge with yam in chunks or almost smooth. Add the fish and shrimps and mix. If you would like to them separate you can leave them out and just serve with the porridge.
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And viola food is ready! Serve and enjoy!
Depending on the yam you're cooking with, you might need to add water to it when cooking if you're adding water make sure you don't go overboard just small water at a time if not you might end up with watery porridge.
I didn't add any liquid to it, I used just the pepper mixture (added water when cleaning out the blender) and it was enough for all through so you might want to be careful if you need to add liquid.