
Easiest Way to Make Ikokore Ijebu
Ikokore is the water yam pottage of the Ijebu people of Ogun State in southwestern Nigeria, and it belongs to them specifically rather than to Yorubaland generally. Ijebu people claim it firmly, and it is one of the dishes by which the subgroup is identified within a much larger ethnic group. Water yam is what makes it. It is a different species from the white yam used for pounded yam, wetter and more mucilaginous, and it cannot be substituted. Grated raw rather than cooked whole, it is dropped into hot stock in loose balls that set as they cook and turn translucent, which is the visual sign the dish is ready. Those balls are the structure of the pottage, and stirring too early destroys them. The other rule is generosity with protein. Ikokore takes beef, smoked fish, smoked prawns and whatever else is available, and Ijebu cooks are explicit that holding back is the wrong instinct. Palm oil, dried pepper and efirin, the scent leaf, finish it. It is a dish made for a household eating together rather than for a single portion, and the source describes it as a family affair, which is how it is generally cooked and eaten.
Nigeria1 hr 30 minTaiwo Oladapo



