Ewedu (Jute plant) with pounded yam

Ewedu (jute) is the Yoruba name for the leaves of Jute plant. This vegetable is well eaten in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.They can be bought in the market. The leaves can be cooked fresh or dried and turned into powder, when the fresh leaves are cooked it gives a bright green colour but when the dried leaves are cooked, it has army colour and one can also use the dried leaves as a thickener for stews. Jute is a rich source of beta carotene.

Ingredients

500g of young ewedu (Jute)

leaves1 tea spoon of potash
2 tea spoons of locust bean ( I have talked about the preparation of locust bean from soy bean in a previous dish or you can buy an already prepared locust bean)

seasoning (2 cubes of knorr chicken, 2 tea spoons each of curry and thyme)

salt
Peppers
Tomatoes
2 cooking spoons of Groundnut oil
Onions
Half a kilogram of turkey (or any other meat of your choice)

Method:

The young ewedu (jute) leaves are stripped from the stem and washed. They are then shredded on a chopping board or one could use a blender. Pour some water of about 200ml into the pot, add the 1 tea spoon of potash and bring the water to boil. Add the shredded ewedu to the boiling water followed by the locust bean, seasoning and add some salt to taste. Do not cook for too long in other not to destroy the nutrients in the ewedu (jute), maximum cooking time of 5 minutes will do. Ewedu (jute)can be served with any meal of your choice other than pounded yam. Along side the ewedu (jute) leave soup you’ll also need to prepare pepper stew.

Cut the turkey into sizes that can be served, rinse it and pour into a pot, dice some onions, add 1 tea spoon of curry and thyme and a cube of knorr chicken add salt to taste and cook for 20 minutes, blend the peppers, tomatoes and onion and pour it into the pot containing the turkey, add the 2 spoons of groundnut oil and cook for another 30 minutes and taste for salt. It’s ready to be served.

Iyan (Pounded Yam)

Iyan is the Yoruba name for pounded yam. Pounded yam is well eaten in Africa and Africans relish it a lot. In South West Nigeria, you bet that would be the meal to be served on special days or occasions like Christmas day, weddings and the likes.

Ingredient:

1 tuber of yam

Traditionally pounded yam is prepared by boiling yam in a pot until it becomes soft, it is then poured into a mortar and a pestle is used in crushing the yam into a smooth dough, hot or cold water is added to the dough a little at a time until the dough becomes soft.
Now a days because of the stress involved in preparing pounded yam locally, yam powder also known as poundo yam is now widely available in the stores.

Ingredients:

350 grammes of pounded yam powder (poundo yam)half a litre of water

Method:

Pour some water into a pot and bring to boil, reduce the heat and sprinkle some of the yam powder into the boiling water, stir repeatedly with a spatula and continue to add the yam powder until you get your desired consistency. Add some water to your dough and cover it and let it simmer for 5 minutes, use the spatula to turn it and allow it to simmer for another 5 minutes. Remove from heat and use the spatula to knead it repeatedly until it becomes very smooth, afterwards you serve the pounded yam with the pepper stew and the ewedu (jute) soup.