Vegan Stir-Fry Yam

Yam belongs to the food category called blue food or ground provision in Trinidad & Tobago. This category regroups starchy vegetables such as yam, sweet potato, eddoes, or cassava... and many others. All these vegetables can be prepared similarly to potatoes. You can boil them, stir-fry them, mash them, gratin them ! However, everytime you will need to fine tune your recipe to the vegetable used as they all have moisture levels and softnesses different from potatoes making some of them better for purée and others better for stir-fry.

Ground provisions will always hold a comfort spot in Cavita's heart. These are the main ingredients the former gardener of her family estate would prepare and share with her as a child growing up. Memories of childhood are strongly associated with these vegetables making them a favorite for our family and there are many variations so look out for other recipes to come.

The ingredients are given for 2 medium servings.

INGREDIENTS

1 500g yam
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2-3 garlic cloves, finely grated
1 cup of coconut milk
1/3 cup cilantro, finely chopped
1 hot pepper (habanero or Thai chili)
Salt
Black pepper
2 Maggi veggie cube
olive oil

DIRECTIONS

Boiling Yam Process

Peel, wash and chop the yam into 1" cubes. Yams are root vegetables like potatoes.
Boil the yam cubes in water (same as you would do for potatoes) with some salt.
When the yam is done, drain and set aside (you can test using a fork, just as you would for a potato).

Stir-Fry Process

In a hot pot, add your oil and your onions. Sauté the onions until they become tender then add the grated garlic and the finely chopped cilantro.
By that time your pot smells amazing. It's time to add the boiled yam and give a few stirs in order to coat the yam with the aromatic mixture.
In a separate bowl add your coconut milk, salt, black pepper and veggie cube. Add your mixture to the pot and stir everything around.
Reduce the fire to low heat. You want to slow cook this for 5-10 mins or until the liquid is completely absorbed. Just before putting the lid on, add your hot pepper, be very careful when stirring to not burst it. If the pepper is torn it will produce a very strong chili flavor and heat. The idea is to keep the pepper whole to extract only the flavor and not the full heat it carries.
This process gives a very soft creamy yam sort of like a mash potato texture but a completely different taste from potatoes taste. You can eat this as a meal or as a side dish with some curry fish or meat of your choice. In our house, we love it as it is!