Asaro (Yam Porridge)

Asaro, also known as Ebe (pronounced eh-beh) is a Nigerian dish native to the Yorubas.

1 m tuber of yam
1 large red bell pepper
1 m red onion
2 cloves garlic
Ginger (same size as 2 garlic cloves)
3 plum tomatoes (or 1 medium/large regular tomato)
3 scotch bonnet peppers
Handful kpanla or stock fish (boil to soften)
1 tbsp Adobo seasoning
1 tsbp Curry powder
1/2 tsp salt [was 2 Knorr cubes]
2 bay leaves
3-4 cups water
1/2 cup Coconut oil
1/2 cup Palm oil

1. Rinse tuber of yam to rid it of dirt, sand etc. Cut into thick rounds.

2. Peel off outer skin.

3. Cut out any dark areas in the yam (like the areas above the knife in above pic: use tip of knife to do this). Cut each round into cubes (first cut in half, then cut each half into another half etc). Add cold water to a large bowl and rinse yam cubes. Drain and add more clean, cold water. Add cubed yam into cold water (to prevent yam from changing color).

4. Set aside for a few minutes (I refrigerated it).

5. Heat pot over medium heat. Cut and blend red bell peppers, onion, tomatoes, scotch bonnet peppers, garlic and ginger. Add 3-4 cups water to blended mix. Add coconut and palm oils to pot. Add blended peppers etc. Cover and let boil over medium heat for 10 minutes.

6. Add seasonings (salt, curry, adobo, bay leaves). Stir, let boil for 5 minutes still over medium heat. Add cubed yam (careful, so pepper doesn't splash; reduce heat if necessary). Drain kpanla (if soaked in water) and add to boiling pepper.

(If you reduced heat, turn it back up to medium.)

7. Stir and let cook for 20-25 minutes or till yam is fork tender. Once soft, use a potato masher to mash, back of a serving spoon or a fork. *Mash and stir - I like some yam chunks, so I didn't mash everything*

8. Turn off heat.

Serve while hot with meat of your choice.

Adapted from: AvartsyCooking