Women carrying yams. Yam wholesale market, Accra, Ghana. (photo credit IITA, Ibadan, Nigeria)

Developing familiarity with yams, true yams, particularly for folks who have none, is sure to  surprise. As mentioned here, they are not the soft, sweet tubers Americans in the United States use to whip up pies, or casseroles. Those dishes are the domain of the delicate sweet potato.

You’ll never find a hearty yam sweetened and baked with butter and topped with marshmallows. They’re tough, hard, big, and sometimes even poisonous. All varieties, in fact, have varying levels of toxins that yield a bitter taste if not prepared properly for cooking. I know this from experience. That’s a curious thing about western African food, actually and fodder for another post. In any case, I knew all of this in theory, but I was still rather unprepared for the big, brown, crusty thang on my counter.

It was quite large, the yam in question—easily a foot long and close to six pounds . . .  This one N said was Ghana yam, and though I knew very little of yams at the time, I recognized that it really was a perfect specimen.

Still it sat there three days until I moved it into a basket with my onions and potatoes. And there, it sat several days more.  Yams are not sweet, but because it spent such a long time waiting for me, I think it developed a bit sweetness, because when we finally did prepare it, I detected a hint. I am convinced that old yams = slightly sweet yams. But then I didn’t know the first thing about yams and frankly I’m still no expert, but I’m getting there. (This study suggests that yams might just develop sugars as they age. How about that?)

Anyway, there it sat in the basket on the top shelf of the kitchen bookcase until N began dropping serious and frequent hints about yam porridge. I inferred from this that he wanted me to prepare it, which was, of course, problematic since my preparation experience was limited to one unfortunate attempt at making dundu that turned out terribly bitter and inedible, upon reflection I’m pretty sure it was a bad yam. Yes, I’m sticking to that story, it was a very bad yam.  By contrast, N ate and prepared yams and yam porridge regularly —like at least once a week— and apparently never tired of it. It was a staple for him in Nigeria as it is throughout much of western Africa. But I had no idea what to do with it, so there it sat in the basket intimidating my poor potatoes and sweet potatoes; my onions, my garlic.

Finally, after realizing that if he did not intervene nothing would become of the yam but a big, rotten mess, N decided to make things happen by teaching me to fish, so to speak. Or better, to yam?

On cooking day, in the tiny slice of kitchen in my tiny apartment, I learned from N how to prepare a yam and how to cook up a pot of yam porridge, a lesson that included stern reminders not to let the juice touch my skin other than on my hands (it is itchy) nor to touch my clothes (light-colored; the juice stains). I did both of those things. Oops.

I imagined the potatoes, the sweets, the onions, and the garlic breathing a collective sigh of relief that day.

Yam Porridge

Ingredients for yam porridge © 2009 Rachel Finn

Ingredients:

1)  Yam
2)  Onions
3)  Garlic
4)  Scotch bonnet or Habañero peppers
5)  Sweet red pepper (red bell pepper)
6)  Tomatoes
7)  Palm oil*
8)  Dried ground shrimp
9)  Dark leafy greens (optional)
10)  Curry Powder (optional)
11)  Fresh Ginger (optional)
12)  Maggi cube (optional)
13) Dried fish or  Stockfish (optional)

A note on ingredients:

Ingredients 1-8 are absolute necessities and depending upon who you talk to, so are 10 & 12. All of this depends on your preferences. We made the porridge the first time around with curry powder and the Maggi cube. Maggi is a bouillon cube essentially, that is also packed with MSG. I don’t know if I buy the MSG hype, but I’m not a huge fan of bouillon cubes, ever. It’s the same thing as Knorr and things like Aromat and can be found in cubed or powdered form. All of these are artificial flavor inhancers made from natural ingredients. Anyway, I don’t like them but omit them from a traditional dish and your average West African (and some throughout the Caribbean) will be ready to fight. They will tell you “it can’t work…” or some such. It can. I have on subsequent preparations substituted both the curry, which is not always my favorite thing, and the Maggi with double or triple the amount of freshly grated ginger. When I served it this way without informing my guests of the omissions, I was praised highly for the “very fresh taste” of my porridge. Try it both ways and you be the judge.

I consider the shredded greens or “leaf” essential. I suggest a green with a sturdier texture and stronger flavor that can stand up to the flavors you’re using. Additionally, because you will be shredding the greens you want to make sure to use something that won’t disintegrate into a soggy mess after being boiled for 15 minutes. Though plenty of people use spinach, I prefer collards. I think kale, beet greens, and maybe chard would be quite nice .

*Don’t use the palm oil in the picture if you can avoid it. It is refined, processed. Find the real deal usually sold in suspect packaging at an African grocery. It’s thick, pungent, orange red, and though it seems like it’d be an acquired taste it’s delicious and blends perfectly with the flavors of the dishes in which you use it. Sometimes it melds, sometimes it frames. A must.

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Peel and cube the yam. Fill a bowl with cold water and place cubes in to soak while you prepare the vegetable puree for the sauce. You may wish to soak the yam a few times and add a bit of salt to the water, I recommend this if you didn’t have help choosing your yam and are unfamiliar, the bitterness is really not-so-nice.

Peeling and cutting up yams. © 2009, Rachel Finn

Yams chunks soaking in pot. © 2009, Rachel Finn

While the yams are soaking, cut tomatoes, onion, and red bell pepper, into chunks and add to food processor, add scotch bonnet or habañero depending on the type of pepper you are using. Add garlic cloves and process ingredients into a smooth purée.

Ready for processing...

Processed veg...

Wash and shred greens into a medium-fine chiffonade and set aside. Drain yams then rinse once more, place into a large pot and fill with water just to cover. Add 2 or 3 tbsp palm oil, cover pot, and bring yams just to a boil. Add the puree, cover pot, cook ten minutes more then stir and cook approximately five more minutes, covered.

If using dried fish, flake the equivalent of about ¼ cup and add at this time more if you like it, and I’ll admit it is pretty good.

If using curry powder and Maggi, grate approximately one tablespoon of fresh ginger, if replacing both the curry powder and Maggi with fresh ginger, grate approximately 3-4 tablespoons. Add approximately 2 tbsp curry powder (if using), ginger,  1 tbsp salt, 1 tsp dried shrimp, and 1 Maggi cube (if using) and stir well to disperse seasoning.

Yams with palm oil. © 2009, Rachel Finn

Yams with sauce. © 2009, Rachel Finn

Seasoning the yam porridge © Rachel Finn, 2009

Cover the pot and cook over medium low heat for ten more minutes then add the shredded greens, stir to distribute, and allow the porridge to cook fifteen more minutes covered.

Yam Porridge with shredded collards or "leaf."

Serve porridge with avocado slices. I have also served it with a fried egg for a bit of additional protein but it’s not necessary, it’s a lot of food.

Enjoy!

Yam Porridge with Leaf

Official logo for the United Nations designated 2011 Year of People of African Descent.

I am late with this, at least here on the site. I’ve been talking up the 2011 International Year for People of African Descent since late 2010 with friends, on Twitter and on Facebook but haven’t done anything special to commemorate it with Roots Cuisine, for various reasons. Most of them logistical and financial–oh the woeful tales of the small, start up nonprofit, they never cease. I’m here to bear witness, believe me.

However, when I think about 2011 and the work and care and love I put into Roots Cuisine and dedicating most of my energy and a great percentage of my sanity to promoting the foodways and culture of my people, I realize that I have paid homage to Afrodescents all around the globe, just like our mission says.  In many cases this year I’ve found the topic, the very idea of the foodways of African Diaspora utterly discounted and ignored much like the people have been throughout history all over the world, wherever there are black people. But still the mark has been made.

What I’ve done with Roots Cuisine hasn’t been flashy or proud but it’s been done with love, out of love and reverence and it is something I will continue to do as long as I move and breathe. Here’s a recap:

• Traveled to Jamaica to continue learning and researching the foodways and related culture of the island and the broader Caribbean

• Traveled to Turkey at the invitation of the U.S. State Department, criss-crossing the country to lecture on African-American foodways and Louisiana foodways (posts still to come)
• Spoke on the Internet radio program “Hot Grease” on the Heritage Radio Network to speak about Juneteenth and to promote RC
• Created a museum exhibit exploring African contributions to agriculture and foodways in the Atlantic World  at the Southern Food and Beverage Museum in New Orleans**
• Set up new site and organizational features to be launched in the coming months
• Met countless people learned, connected, networked, ate crow, popped my collar, laughed, and cried to develop Roots Cuisine’s regional Diaspora networks
• Forged friends and partnerships that may last a lifetime and shed as many that had grown stale and disadvantageous in others

All in the name of Afrodescendents. Foodways. Justice. Love. Corny? Overboard? Maybe but so very true.

I worked damn hard to make it all happen and boy am I exhausted and boy do I have some tales to tell, woo. But still, I won’t stop. But I will stop proselytizing before I start sounding like this particular Maya Angelou poem, which in the end, I kind of hope I do. (There I go, we go, Roots Cuisine goes…rising. Thanks for your words and wisdom, Madame Angelou!)

There is so much more to come and so much more to do to support of the activities above and to develop new projects. I hope you will join in and support when and how you can, if you like and value what I am trying to do.

Please enjoy these final months of this officially declared International Year for People of African Descent. I cannot tell you that there will be a big event or celebration sponsored by Roots Cuisine but I can tell you that here every year, every day of 2011 and beyond will be dedicated to the global spirit and struggle of Afrodescendents worldwide.

**Expanded and completed virtual exhibit will be displayed at rootscuisine.org in the coming weeks.

Today people around the country (and the world) will celebrate Juneteenth, which is a celebration of the end of slavery…an emancipation day of sorts. I may even fry some chicken or bake a cake, or something, or maybe I will just have a glass of wine.

Here in the United States we do not have an official Emancipation Day holiday, so Juneteenth is it. Sadly, not so many people know about it. There are official Emancipation Day holidays throughout the Caribbean in particular and in a scant few Latin American nations, but here nothing national, nothing official. Not too many people know that either. We really should celebrate emancipation, as a way to show reverence and respect. Why? Well, because slave labor built this country funding industry in the North and fueling agriculture (and filling pockets) in the South ( and the North too). People generally don’t know much about all of this either, but perhaps this is by choice.

So, yes. June 18, 1865. General in the Union Army, Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas with Union troops to gain control and enforce the Emancipation Proclamation issued two years earlier at the end of the Civil War. June 19th or Juneteenth he stood before the town, the [formerly] enslaved, [former] slave owners, and anyone else who happened to be around and informed them all that it was a wrap. Everyone was free…in theory. In the 146 years since, we know that much has changed and just as much has not. But that announcement, along with Lincoln’s proclamation of Emancipation (& the 13th Amendment), opened the door to a long journey for black people that has included spectacular successes and great failures, periods of bliss and heartbreak, all punctuated by an awe inspiring beauty and creative spirit that has influenced culture and history around the world and often makes me say out loud: “Black people are awesome.”

And so the celebrations commemorating emancipation and the interminable spirit of black people…our struggles,culture, heritage, and history began… Honoring the ancestors were no doubt as much a part of those early celebrations as much as feting freedom. Food was, of course, a central focus and I imagine tables and plates piled high with barbecue (of course) fried chicken; crowder peas and ham hocks; okra, corn, and tomatoes; fruits; cakes; pies made with anything grown, caught, harvested, or preserved on the land to which the people had been forcibly tied for at least centuries prior.

This year I am reflecting on so many things–the food, of course, but also the legacy, history, strength, and damn, the sheer élan and dynamism of black folks.I guess I should be writing a post about a menu, maybe the top five dishes to serve at a Juneteenth picnic or some such. There are plenty of others to do that, though. Heck, I even know a few of them who will and that’s not a bad thing,because they will probably make a little cash in the process. But, what I’m thinking right now as I sit writing this staring out a window with a view of Puget Sound before me, is that I will reflect.  I am inspired everyday by the idea that I am  able to honor my ancestors, my culture, my history, my family everyday with Roots Cuisine. I am humbled as I learn more about the food of people of afrodescendents all over the world and grateful, so grateful that I have this opportunity, that I carved this opportunity out for myself. It ain’t easy but it is my way of honoring and commemorating the struggle, the people, the legacy.

Happy Juneteenth, everyone.

Fry some chicken.

Give thanks.

Fried Chicken

2 cups all-purpose flour
Salt & pepper
3-4 pound chicken
White vinegar
Water
Peanut oil, coconut oil, or (*gulp*) lard for frying

Cut up chicken into nine pieces. I also like to cut breasts and thighs in half. Clean excess fat, blood or other visible and excessive gunk from each piece. I advise against removing the skin, but you may, things will still work out in the end. Fill a bowl with cold water and add a bit of vinegar, maybe a tablespoon to it. Place chicken pieces in water and leave them to sit between 10-20 minutes.

While the chicken soaks measure out flour and put into a paper bag. Add salt and pepper to the flour, enough to season your chicken. This mixture will be the crust on your chicken when fried, so make sure you add enough so that things are not bland, I would say maybe 3-4 teaspoons of salt and a few healthy grinds or shakes of black pepper. Once this is done, set bag aside. Wash the chicken pieces by swishing them in the water, rinse with fresh, cold water. Pat chicken pieces dry and sprinkle them with salt and pepper on both sides. Set pieces aside for at least 10 minutes to absorb the seasoning.

After 10 minutes place the chicken in the bag of seasoned flour and shake vigorously. Remove each piece  to a plate or platter shaking of excess flour as you go. Allow chicken pieces  to sit 10 or so minutes to give the flour mixture time to adhere to the chicken.

To fry the chicken, add oil half way up the sides of  a heavy-bottomed skillet (preferably cast iron) if pan frying or to cover if deep frying. This will vary with the size of your pan, use your best judgement and add more oil if necessary. Heat the oil or lard (or shortening if you choose, Crisco makes great chicken, but I don’t like to use it) until you see ripples on the surface of the oil. Add your chicken cooking over a medium-high flame. Allow the chicken to cook 8-10 minutes per side undisturbed to develop a deep, golden crust. DO NOT TOUCH. Keep an eye on things, of course, and if it’s burning turn the chicken, remove it, of lower the flame, whichever seems applicable to the situation. 8-10 minutes is a good measure of time. You want a golden brown color and chicken that is tender and still yields a bit to pressure, not to dark. Unlike berries or men, darker is not better here, your chicken will be dry and hard. Color is really your best indicator. As for undercooking, a golden color is best. Further, if you try to turn the chicken pieces and they stick to the bottom of the pan, leave them alone, they are not done. If you still find them to be undercooked once you remove them, place them in the oven at a low temperature (250 degrees) for 10-15 minutes.

Once cooked evenly on both sides, transfer chicken pieces to a plate lined with paper towels to drain excess oil.

Check it out here….

Yams

Yam, igname, ñame, inhame… all rooted in various West African words: nyam, iyan that not only refer to the tuber itself, but can also mean food, or even to eat reflecting the importance of the vegetable to cultures throughout the region . In Jamaican the word for eat is nyam. No coincidences here. I have developed such an appreciation that I now swiftly correct anyone confusing them with Ipomoea batatas in all of their orange flesh-iness.

Yams & Sweets

Yams, of the family Discoreaceae, are ugly and intriguing things that show up on plates throughout African Diaspora. They are part of a significant group of foods known variously as food, ground provisions, verdura, provisions (fr.), kuminda di tera (thanks to my Curaçao connection Jermain Ostiana for that) that include starchy fruits and root vegetables such as mandioca (cassava, yuca, mandioca), malanga (dasheen, eddoe, otoe), sweet potatoes (batata, boniato), plantains, breadfruit, and green (or unripe) bananas (guineos). Yams are ubiquitous throughout the African Diaspora of the Americas and the Caribbean, appearing in cooking pots in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Brazil, Guadeloupe, Martinique, etc. Yams were even eaten in the southern United States though orange sweet potatoes dominate the root vegetable scene there.

Brought to the Americas by enslaved Africans and their captors, yams were adapted quite easily to the climates of the American South, the Caribbean, and Latin America that were so similar to the tropical regions of the yam belt in Western Africa. They, along with foods like ackee, and breadfruit, and, yes, pork became important high yield, nutritious food sources to feed the ever-growing enslaved (& European) populations in those regions.

Yams draining

There are hundreds of varieties of the tuber including Ghana yam, yellow yam, St. Vincent’s yam, soft yam all with different names depending upon what country you’re in. They can have cream-colored flesh, yellow, purple, white, or pinkish, which is (and should) be very hard and not yield to pressure when raw.  When cooked they can be firm or have a creamy texture like boiled potatoes. The skin, most often a dirty brown color can be crusty or even hairy. Some varieties need to be soaked before cooking and they can have a slightly acrid taste. Many yam species are poisonous but still used for food in West Africa. In such cases they are soaked and very carefully prepared in order to leach the toxins from the yam. Preparation techniques can include pounding, fermenting, and drying along with the initial soaking. Those same chemicals responsible for higher levels of toxicity in some species are why you may experience a slight acrid taste but the yams you find in the market are just fine, but a good soak can’t hurt just to try and leach away that flavor. Yams are never eaten raw because they exude a fluid that when cut causes the skin to itch and leaves permanent brown stains on the clothing of unsuspecting and inexperienced cooks like me.

The beautiful yam

I am personally most familiar with Ghana, yellow, and soft yams, which isn’t saying much since if faced with a bowl filled with all three I could probably only really tell you with utter certainty which was the yellow yam for obvious reasons:

Yellow Yam

Yams are a traditional food of the Ashanti, the Yoruba, and especially the Igbo for whom it is the most important staple crop. Festivals are held to celebrate it in Nigeria and Ghana; anyone who has read Things Fall Apart has read of the Igbo New Yam Festival. And if we had any doubts at all that yams are inspirational…

Yams are prepared throughout western Africa most famously in the dish fufu, where they are pounded to a sticky mass then eaten as an accompaniment to soup. Dishes with the same or similar names show up throughout the Caribbean though often prepared with other tubers, but always using the same technique of mashing the root with seasonings or oil and serving to accompany a particular dish; in Cuba: fufu, the Dominican Republic: mangú, Puerto Rico: mofongo etc.* Most commonly they are boiled, sometimes along with other ground provisions as simple side dish to just about any meal, but from West Africa to Colombia, the tubers are eaten boiled, fried, or roasted; mashed or sliced.

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*Cuban Fufu is made with ripe plantains and mofongo with green plaintains. Mangú is made from mashed green plantains, while West African style fufu can be made from plantains, mandioca, malanga, or yams. All of these dishes, whether or not they are made with other tubers, are all prepared in much the same way: mashed or pounded.

Diaspora is dedicated to the multidisciplinary study of the history, culture, social structure, politics, and economics of both the traditional diasporas – Armenian, Greek, and Jewish – and the new transnational dispersions which in the past four decades have come to be identified as ‘diasporas.’ These encompass groups ranging from the African-, Chinese-,Indian-, and Mexican-American to the Ukrainian- and Haitian-Canadian, the Caribbean-British, the Antillean-French, and many others.

My intention was to include, in one post,  highlights from each city that I visited. But as I have begun to reflect, it seems to me that the experience deserves more. I am still processing all of it and have described the trip to friends who’ve inquired, as one that was “good.” It was thought-provoking, enchanting, frustrating, exhausting, exhilarating, and…I’m sure many more descriptors will pop into my head in the coming days and weeks.

For now, though, I’d like to share a short clip of the highlights of my stay in Istanbul. For that stay, I’d like to thank Sevil, Kim, and all of the other men and women who made things possible.  A special thanks to Cem who showed me the city and taught me, well, much.

I will be visiting Ankara, Adana, Istanbul, Gaziantep, and the highlight will be İzmir where I’ll eat, cook, and connect with a group of Afro-Turkish villagers.  As Sarah Khan, founder of Tasting Cultures Foundation put it such a “. . . rich culture [and] deep history . . .”  The Afro-Turks are primarily descendants of enslaved Africans brought to the Ottoman Empire in the late-eighteenth century and most of them are concentrated along the Aegean Sea in the province of İzmir.  It will be wonderful to work and learn and, of course, eat!

I am looking so forward to expanding Roots Cuisine’s palates and networks eastward.

Please visit during the next month to see what were up to.

Better late than never is what they say and for the sake of my own peace of mind right now, I’m going to embrace that old adage.  There is so much news to share so I thought I’d combine it all in one post and then go on from there.

1. I have been asked to travel to Turkey to speak on Louisiana and African American foodways in honor of Black History Month.  It’s going to be a great trip and I’ll even be interviewed for Turkish television.  Most importantly I’ll have the opportunity to spend some time in an Afro-Turkish village in the Izmir area.  Lots of cooking, eating, and learning.  I’m looking so forward to expanding Roots Cuisine’s horizons and palate eastward!
2. Roots Cuisine is now headquartered in Kingston, Jamaica.  I’m looking forward to connecting and traveling throughout the Caribbean to expand and build our networks.  Would you like to connect?  Please contact us at info [AT] rootscusine [DOT] org
3. We are celebrating the year of the Afro-descendant.  Yes, that’s right, the UN has declared 2011 as the year of people of African descent.  And while I believe every year (every day) is one to celebrate people of African descent we’re going to honor and promote that at Roots Cuisine as much as possible.
4. Roots Cuisine is now partnered with the Southern Food and Beverage Museum.  Look out for general news and projects this year resulting from that relationship.
5. We’re looking to expand and get interested people involved to build our networks.  This means we’d love input and we’re even going to be looking for volunteers and interns to help us get to a place we really want to be.
6. New fantastic interviews and content from writers, scholars, and cooks throughout Diaspora.
7. Newsletter, newsletter, newsletter!
   

Stop by and join our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/rootscuisine.

So please keep following and contact with questions, kudos, suggestion. It’s shaping up to be a big, big year.

Thanks and Bless up!