Pounded yam or Iyán (

Yoruba The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitute ...

) is a

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...

swallow The swallows, martins, and saw-wings, or Hirundinidae, are a family of passerine songbirds found around the world on all continents, including occasionally in Antarctica. Highly adapted to aerial feeding, they have a distinctive appearance. The ...

food Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is inge ...

native to the

Igbo Igbo may refer to: * Igbo people, an ethnic group of Nigeria * Igbo language, their language * anything related to Igboland, a cultural region in Nigeria See also * Ibo (disambiguation) * Igbo mythology * Igbo music * Igbo art * * Igbo-Ukwu, a t ...

Ebira The Ebira also known as Egbira people are an ethno-Natural language, linguistic group of central Nigeria. Most Ebira people are from Kogi State, Nasarawa State. Until the separation of Kogi State from Kwara State, Okene was seen as the administrati ...

and Tiv ethnic groups. It is a traditional food. It is prepared by pounding boiled yam with a

mortar and pestle Mortar and pestle is a set of two simple tools used from the Stone Age to the present day to prepare ingredients or substances by crushing and grinding them into a fine paste or powder in the kitchen, laboratory, and pharmacy. The ''mortar'' () ...

. Pounded yam is similar to mashed

potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...

es but heavier. It is a smooth and tasty delicacy traditionally eaten with the hands. Although there is a alternative for Pounded Yam which is called Poundo Yam, the Pounded Yam still remains to be the favorite of most Nigerians. Iyán is consumed in

Ondo State Ondo State ( yo, Ìpínlẹ̀ Oǹdó) is a state in southwestern Nigeria. It was created on 3 February 1976 from the former Western State. It borders Ekiti State to the north, Kogi State to the northeast, Edo State to the east, Delta State to t ...

Ijesha The Ijesha (written as Ìjẹ̀ṣà in Yoruba orthography) are a sub-ethnicity of the Yorubas of West Africa. Ilesha is the largest town and historic cultural capital of the Ijesha people, and is home to a kingdom of the same name, ruled by an ...

Edo Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...

, Benue and Ekiti in Nigeria, among others. It can be served with

egusi Egusi (Yoruba: '' ẹ̀gúsí,'' Igbo: ègwusi), also known as, agusi, ohue, Ikpan, Ikon, or agushi) is the name for the protein-rich seeds of certain cucurbitaceous plants (squash, melon, gourd), which, after being dried and ground, are used ...

, soup, jute leaves soup (

ewedu ''Corchorus'' is a genus of about 40–100 species of flowering plants in the family Malvaceae, native to tropical and subtropical regions throughout the world. Different common names are used in different contexts, with jute applying to the fi ...

), stewed spinach (

efo riro Efo riro ( yo, ẹ̀fọ́ riro) is a vegetable soup and a native soup of the Yoruba people of western Nigeria. The two vegetables most commonly used to prepare the soup are ''Celosia argentea'' () and ''Amaranthus hybridus'' (). Ingredients T ...

) or

okra soup Okra or Okro soup is prepared using the edible green seed pods of the okra flowering plant as a primary ingredient. Other vegetables can be added to the soup as well, such as ewedu, kerenkere, or Ugu leaf. Depending on the specific variant being ...

Preparation of íyàn

The items needed to make pounded yam are puna yam, water, and a mortar and pestle. Peel the yam and cut it into small cubes, rinse, then boil for about 30 minutes until it is soft. Clean the mortar and pestle by washing with water, pound the yam until soft, smooth and dough-like. in some parts of the Nigeria they add

eba Ẹ̀bà (in Nigeria) or Pinon (in Togo, Benin, and southern Ghana) is a staple food mainly eaten in the West African sub-region and other African countries. The term èbà originates from the Yoruba people of southwest Nigeria. It is a coo ...

to the pounded yam when it's a paste to give it more flayour and harden it. Dry yam harvested later in the season will require more water while fresh yam harvested earlier will require less water during pounding. Eat íyán when it is hot and freshly served.

Types of yam

The type of yam used for pounding yam is the African yam which is common in Africa and some parts of

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

. It is also known as puna yam, true yam or white yam. The texture is rough with brown skin and off-white flesh; its length ranges from that of regular

es up to five feet long. Nigeria yam2

Puna yam is a food/

cash crop A cash crop or profit crop is an Agriculture, agricultural crop which is grown to sell for profit. It is typically purchased by parties separate from a farm. The term is used to differentiate marketed crops from staple crop (or "subsistence crop") ...

available all year round unlike other crops that are seasonal. Other varieties of yam include purple yam, wild yam, white guinea yam, Chinese and water yam. African yam is rich in

carbohydrate In organic chemistry, a carbohydrate () is a biomolecule consisting of carbon (C), hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O) atoms, usually with a hydrogen–oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 (as in water) and thus with the empirical formula (where ''m'' may or ma ...

s and

calorie The calorie is a unit of energy. For historical reasons, two main definitions of "calorie" are in wide use. The large calorie, food calorie, or kilogram calorie was originally defined as the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of on ...

s. Although it lacks protein, it can be balanced with egg and sauce.

Varieties of soup for pounded yam

Egusi soup with vegetables and dried catfish, prawns, beef and roasted cowskin

Pounded yam goes with okro soup, ẹ̀fọ́ rírò,

banga soup Palm nut soup is a soup made from palm fruit and it is common in the Ghanaian and Ivorian community. It originated from Akan tribe in Ashanti Region, Ghana. Palm nut soup has become a continental soup. In the Akan language (the native language o ...

(ofe akwu),

ogbono ''Irvingia gabonensis'' is a species of African trees in the genus '' Irvingia'', sometimes known by the common names wild mango, African mango, or bush mango. They bear edible mango-like fruits, and are especially valued for their fat- and prot ...

and gbẹ̀gìrì soup. The food is popularly eaten with egusi soup, a tasty stew made from ground melon seeds, tomatoes, onion and red palm oil.

References

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External links

pounded yam from Allnigeria foods
Central African cuisine Yoruba cuisine Igbo cuisine Nigerian cuisine Staple foods Swallows (food) Nigeria Africa