Ijebu pottage recipe… Lumpy delicious ikokore

IT is not enough to eat food and fill up one’s tummy when one is hungry. Food isn’t just for survival, but for nourishment and enjoyment.

Ikokore is also known as ifokore. It is a water yam pottage dish popularized by the ijebu people of Ogun State, Nigeria.

To enjoy ikokore one would need to incorporate as many proteins as one possibly can to enrich it. One can choose to include additional ingredients or exclude others. Cooking is all about being creative so therefore one can customize this recipe. To enjoy ikokore, try it with cold eba the ijebu way or with eko (solid pap).

Here is how to make this staple dish.

• A toast to toasted cakes

Ingredients

Water yam

Palm oil

Chicken or beef stock/ water

Shombo/tatashe or dry pepper

Shredded smoked fish (eja kika)

Shredded dried fish (panla)

Shaki

Ponmo

Crayfish

Seasoning

How it is made…

Peel and cut water yam in sizable pieces. Grate the water yam. In a pot, boil water and add palm oil, add pieces of meat and fish, crayfish, seasoning and blended pepper, then add salt, and allow to boil.

While it is boiling take out the pieces of fish/meat etc as many as possible/ if not when the ikokore is done the pieces of fish/beef will be stuck at the bottom of the pot.

After taking out the fish and beef, add some salt to the grated water yam and stir it, because it is going to be in lumps.

Start adding lumps of water yam to the boiling pot of water (if the water is hot enough, the balls of water yam should float)

Cover and allow to cook for about 10 minutes,

Then add the pieces of fish/beef taken out earlier and sprinkle some ground crayfish and chopped fresh peppers (ata rodo).

Don’t mix the ikokore while cooking at all, just allow it cook.

Then serve.

Nutrition fact

 % daily value

Moisture                                                  70%

Starch                                                       28%

Sugar                                                         0.5%

Fat                                                          0.1%-0.3%

Crude protein                                    1.1%-2.8%

Crude fibre                                         0.6%-1.4%

Ash                                                        0.7%-2.1%

Vitamin C (mg per 100g)                5-8%

Vitamin B1 (mg per 100g)             0.09%

Vitamin B2 (mg per 100g)             0.03%

and vitamin A

Health Benefit

Ikokore improves digestive health and help with constipation and irritable bowel syndrome. The antioxidants in water yam help to reduce damage by free radicals in the body and slow down the effects of ageing. They also have anti-inflammatory properties which help to reduce the risk of chronic diseases. Water yam contains fibre and a substantial amount of anti oxidants and vitamin c, and this is healthy enough for diabetic patient. The vitamin c in water yam plays many roles in bone growth and immune function. It decreases blood pressure levels. It is a good source of the female hormone thus it is good for regulation of menses. Water yam is low in calories so it is perfect for weight reduction and management. It has good mineral contents and when prepared with palm oil and other ingredients like dried shrimps, vegetables, the nutritional value increases greatly.