Let's make Pounded Yam... Are you in?

Today was fun, I told you this journey will be fun and I was right. I had lots and lots of playful activities, and of course, pictures to back them up. First, I am enjoying electricity. Secondly, the children are fun and interesting. They have succeeded in making me laugh so hard, at some point, my cheeks hurt.

There are lots of things I'll love to share with you, and God helps me, you'll get to read about all of them. Albeit, today, you'll be watching Yam, turn into a swallow. And I hope you enjoy the read and the pictures.

Yesterday, I told you my friend and her family had been planning this trip for a long. So, they had purchased lots and lots of yam in advance. We packed everything into the vehicle that brought us to Ondo State and had them stacked in the kitchen last night.

This morning, some of the yams were brought out and put into great use. Today isn't the celebration day, but then, the faces around here who came to celebrate with them needed to eat. Her mum decided we will be having pounded yam with Egusi soup today.

I am not a fan of soup, by now, you are quite familiar with this. I liked the idea of the pounded yam alongside Egusi soup because I knew I'll have lots of pictures to share with you. Therefore, I joined in the process, helping with peeling the yam.

We had more hands, therefore, it didn't take time before all the yam was peeled and ready to be boiled.

No, the ugly part didn't make it to the pot, her mum made sure she scrapped every dark spot off our beloved yam. I watched her clean every spot with her knife as expertly as possible. I began to wonder how long it had been since she started doing stuff like this. For she did it with ease and some level of confidence.

Right after she was done cleaning those spots, everything went into this basin, for washing, and then to the pot for boiling.

Please, don't mind the color of that water. I have to confess, over here, that's what their water looks like. Last night, I was afraid to let it touch my body. My friend convinced me it was okay, and that it's the best water here.

It took quite a long to have the yam boiled and ready to be pounded. I had to keep checking so I don't miss any step. It turned out I did for I didn't get the photo of the yam when it was taken out of boiling water. What I got was the peels mum scraped out while trying to clean the yam of those spots. I thought I should add this to the list for it does have more use than it appears.

There, the boiled yam got into the mortar, and someone came around to begin the process. Two people are required to do a generous job to this. The reason is that one person will have to pound first, then, the other person takes the next turn.

A young man was called upon to join the woman, and the pounding began. Back and forth the pestle went into the mortar, in a bit to give the yam a texture we all enjoy.

From the photo above, you can see the texture is changing to a different one. I left them to help the rest of the girls clean the house. I returned when the pounded yam was ready

I was excited to see the end. They were quite supportive of my adventurous lifestyle. For they kept calling me in between turns to take shots, I was glad, and I did take those shots with smiles.

Oh my, I almost forgot to mention that water is added at certain points, to smoothen the texture of the yam, and also aid in easy pounding.