🇳🇬 How to Make Pounded Yam

Craving Pounded Yam? On FoodNeverComes the food never actually comes — so here's how to make real Pounded Yam at home, in about 30 min, with stuff you probably already have.

🛒 Ingredients

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• 1kg white puna yam, peeled and cut into thick rounds
• water to cover
• a pinch of salt (optional — purists use none)

👩‍🍳 Method

1. Peel the yam thickly. The layer just under the skin is woody and will show up as lumps later.
2. Boil the rounds in plenty of water for 20–25 min until a knife slides through with no resistance at all. Undercooked yam will never pound smooth.
3. Drain, keeping a cup of the hot cooking water.
4. Pound hot, in a mortar, in small batches. Cold yam seizes. Add the reserved water a spoon at a time.
5. Keep going past the point it looks done — you want a glossy, elastic dough with zero grain. A food processor gets you 80% there in 2 min if you have no mortar.
6. Wet your hands, shape into a smooth mound, and serve with egusi or ogbono. It is a swallow, not a chew: pinch, dip, swallow.