CbB: Yam Vegetable

In the spirit of healthy eating, this is one of my many favorites. I know people argue constantly about whether yam is healthy or not and i definitely dunno the winning side. However, I choose to stand with those who say yam is healthy but should be eaten in moderation, at least till one party wins the argument. 

Yam Vegetable as i choose to call it (cos i know many people have different names for it) or 'Ji agwo ro agwo' as my people call it has many variants and you can choose to add or remove ingredients as you please. However, this is the version I favor the most: 

Boiled yam with Spinach, Ukpaka and Roasted fish

I know most Ibo families eat this dish and most likely other tribes. We sure did eat this a lot at home and we still do. Some people prefer plantain (ripe or unripe) so can choose to replace the yam or use both yam and plantain. This is also a pretty easy dish to prepare and isn't time consuming. 

Behind the scene.....

Ingredients: 

Boiled yam cubes or plantain (ripe or unripe) 

Pepper

Crayfish

Onions

Smoked fish

Spinach leaves (washed and cut)

Uziza leaves (some may call it hot leaves)

Maggi/Salt

Ukpaka/Ugba (I hear this is made from oil bean seed)

I also love to use akidi (i really don't know any other name for it) but I haven't seen this anywhere in Abuja

I put a little palm oil in my frying pan and allowed it to heat up and smoke for a bit.

Added onions, smoked fish (as i like the fish to soak up the sauce) and ukpaka/ugba and stir fried it for a few minutes, then added the pepper, crayfish and maggi. I added the pepper at this point cos i had cut it up. If the pepper is blended and has water in it, it might be better to add it at the same time with the ukpaka and onions so the water dries up. 

I added the boiled yam into the sauce and mixed properly (I always remove the fish before mixing so it doesn't break up into tiny pieces). 

After mixing properly, I added the spinach and ukpaka leaves (taste for salt, pepper or crayfish) returned the fish and left it to simmer on low heat for a few minutes. 

Food was ready!! 

Some people love to see 'bits n pieces' of shaki, pomo and others in their meals so this would also be pre-cooked and cut into bite size and put in alongside the smoked fish.

If you do try this, I'd like to know how it went. If you have a different recipe, do share!