This is a delicious soft diet dish made mainly of water yam. Oto (also known as Ikokore in the south-west) is also popular in the South-South region of Nigeria, precisely from the Efik and Ibibio speaking communities.
Ingredients:
- One tuber of water yam
- 2 litres of water
- Shrimps
- Crayfish
- Seasoning cubes
- Pepper
- Curry leaves (just plucked, not shredded)
- Dried fish
- Periwinkle
Method:
Peel the water yam, wash properly and grate using a grater till a fine thick slimy paste is got. Pour water into a pot and boil with the washed dried fish, shrimps, seasoning cubes (to taste), crayfish, and pepper. Mind you do not add salt just yet because the salt in the pot before the water yam will inhibit the water yam from forming into ball shapes. Salt will make the water yam scatter into tiny undesirable bits.
So with every other ingredient in the pot and left to simmer for 15minutes stir properly. Then cut the grated water yam with your fingers in small bits and scatter all available space in the boiling sauce. Leave to steam for 15 minutes. The grated water yam would have formed into small balls. Now salt can be added just to taste. Stir with a turning stick to avoid slicing the water yam balls with the spoon. The final ingredient, the curry leaves. Put this in stir and leave to steam for just about a minute for the heat to bring out the flavour from the leaves. There you have it, food is ready. Best served hot.
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