The Global Kitchen

Preparation and Cooking:
• Peel and wash yams. Do not slice yams into smaller pieces. You need to have a good grip as you grate
• Use a grater to reduce the yam into a smooth paste.
• After grating yam, add about 1 teaspoon (or to taste) of salt. Mix well.
• Add 1 teaspoon of black pepper and one cube of bullion or two teaspoons of stock powder. Mix well and set aside.
• Wash the spinach or similar green if plucked from the garden or bought fresh from a market garden. Pluck out whole individual leaves and set aside. Save the stems. They will be used later to line the bottom of the cooking pot.
• Scoop out one tablespoon full of grated yam mash and fold into one spinach leaf. Use two spinach leaves if one is too small. The end product should have a "finger" shape about 1/2 to 2 inches long. Repeat this process with the remainder of the grated yam. Pile the folded yams in a tray.
• Use an adequate cooking pot that will contain your yam fingers to half full at most. Line the bottom of the pot with the green stems. Make sure the stems cover the bottom of the pot properly i.e., without leaving gaps more than one inch wide.
• Now carefully place the yam fingers in the pot over the stems layer. Layer all the yam fingers into the pot.
• Slowly add about 1/2 cup of water against the side of the pot. Place pot on stove at high heat and let boil for 10 minutes or until done. add water as needed. When done the yam fingers should be firm all through, no mushy core.
• Remove pot from heat and set aside.

Preparing the Sauce:
• Wash the garden eggs and place in a cooking pot.
• De-bone the dry fish(available in African food stores), leaving it in large chunks. Pour hot water over the de-boned dry fish  in bowl. Let sit for about 3 minutes rinse and discard water.
• Break dry fish into large chunks and add to the garden eggs in the cooking pot. Add about 1/2 cup of water cover and bring to a boil over medium heat.
• Cook until garden eggs are tender (3 to 5 minutes), remove from heat
• With a fork transfer the cooked garden eggs to a mashing bowl or mortar. Remove any stalk still on any garden egg. Thoroughly mash the garden eggs.
• Transfer mashed garden eggs back into cooking pot with fish and liquid.
• Place on stove and turn up heat. Stir and add crayfish, one remaining bullion cube, sliced onions  and ground Jamaican  peppers.
• Stir, let cook for 3 minutes, then add palm oil. Cook, stirring occasionally for another five minutes. Remove from heat and serve.  The sauce is ready.

The Serving:
• You should be able to feed 4 adults with this recipe measure.
• Place 8 to 10 of the steamed yam fingers in a dish. Generously spread the sauce over the fingers and more beside. Make sure each serving gets a few pieces of the fish.
• Garnish with fresh parsley leaves. For some color, add a few slice of red tomatoes.

Bon appétit!