# What can I do with three pounds of yams? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 27, 2006, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-with-three-pounds-of-yams/346390 "2006-02-27T23:38:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cowgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@cowgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cowgirl)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-with-three-pounds-of-yams/346390/1 "2006-02-27T23:38:55Z")
(Review to avoid confusion: At least for the purposes of this thread, sweet potatoes have orange flesh. Yams have white flesh. The ones I’ve got have white flesh and purple skin.) After my previous successes roasting otherwise-uneatable (for me) veggies like beets, cauliflower, and brussels sprouts (not to mention the always-delicious sweet potato, carrot and garlic), I am disappointed that these do not roast well. They are dry and not terribly flavourful. There goes my standard recipe for vegetables. I must diversify. Note that I don’t need to cook three pounds at the same time, but I need enough recipes to be able to get three pounds into an edible state. One really good recipe would do. Vegetarian, please. Any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-with-three-pounds-of-yams/346390/2 "2006-02-27T23:56:08Z")
_Oishi yaki imooooooooooo!_ That’s what the vendor yelled when I was a kid. We called him the ‘Ishiyakimo Man’. He pedalled a cart that contained roasted sweet potatoes. My sister and I would fight over who got to carry our ¥50 treasures, since it was cold in the Winter and the sweet potatoes were warm. Anyway, we just ate them with butter. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-with-three-pounds-of-yams/346390/3 "2006-02-27T23:59:06Z")
Well, that depends . . . do you have a granny? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-with-three-pounds-of-yams/346390/4 "2006-02-28T00:00:26Z")
Oh, I almost forgot… _What shall we do with a sweet potato? What shall we do with a sweet potato? What shall we do with a sweet potato? Ear-lie in the morning?_ ---
**Author:** ![cowgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@cowgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cowgirl)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-with-three-pounds-of-yams/346390/5 "2006-02-28T00:04:58Z")
Yams, I say! YAMS! I guess that doesn’t fit in the song. **lissener** , I’m afraid I don’t know your reference. **Johnny L.A.** , were they orange or white? how do they roast them? were they kind of bread-y? That’s how they seemed when roasted, they needed a lot of sauce. I eat most sweet veggies with just butter, but these are kind of dry. I’m hungry, and my yams are calling me, but I don’t know what to tell them. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-with-three-pounds-of-yams/346390/6 "2006-02-28T00:08:22Z")
> [@cowgirl](#): > > Yams, I say! YAMS! I guess that doesn’t fit in the song. **lissener** , I’m afraid I don’t know your reference. _What Shall We Do With A Drunken Sailor_. It’s been a long time, but I’m pretty sure they were white. They were wrapped up in foil and cooked on coals inside of the cart. Nowadays I prefer the orange ones, but I’ll still eat the white ones with butter. Not as sweet though. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-with-three-pounds-of-yams/346390/7 "2006-02-28T00:09:30Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > _What Shall We Do With A Drunken Sailor_. Oh. You didn’t catch **lissener** ’s reference. Never mind. ---
**Author:** ![cowgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@cowgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cowgirl)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-with-three-pounds-of-yams/346390/8 "2006-02-28T00:14:08Z")
[continues hijack] No, I know the drunken sailor song, but I guess I don’t know the part about granny. How embarassing. [/end hijack] ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-with-three-pounds-of-yams/346390/9 "2006-02-28T00:15:13Z")
From [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yam\_(vegetable):](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yam_%28vegetable%29:) > [@](#): > > Yams must be cooked (in African species) to be safely eaten because various natural substances in raw yams can cause illness if consumed. Preparing some species of yam is a time-consuming process, involving days of pounding, leaching, and boiling to remove the toxins. Yams may be served fried, boiled or pounded into a paste. In the Philippines, the purple ube variety of yam (Dioscorea alata, also known in India as ratalu or violet yam) is eaten as a sweetened dessert called halaya, and is also an ingredient in another Filipino dessert, halo halo. > > An exception to the cooking rule is the Japanese mountain yam (Dioscorea opposita), known as nagaimo or yamaimo depending on the root shape. It is eaten raw and grated, after only a relatively minimal preparation: the whole tubers are briefly soaked in a vinegar-water solution, to neutralize irritant oxalate crystals found in their skin. The raw vegetable is starchy and bland, mucilaginous when grated, and may be eaten plain as a side dish, or added to noodles. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-with-three-pounds-of-yams/346390/10 "2006-02-28T00:22:11Z")
[\*\*NSFW \*\*hijack] Google \< **yams granny “karen finley”** \> if you want a :eek: [/\*\*NSFW \*\*hijack] Did I mention that the results will **NOT** –repeat \*\*\*_NOT_ \*\*\*–be safe for work? ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-with-three-pounds-of-yams/346390/11 "2006-02-28T00:24:05Z")
I have forwarded this to my mom, who was raised on a farm w/ a bunch of other kids and not so much in the way of food sometimes besides veggies. Personally, I’m wondering if you can cook them like the little yellow squash slices, breaded & fried tempura style? Or can they be shredded into a cole slaw kind of salad? No, I do not volunteer to do the shredding! ---
**Author:** ![cowgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@cowgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cowgirl)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-with-three-pounds-of-yams/346390/12 "2006-02-28T00:26:50Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > … I know, that’s kind of what I was afraid of. In Brazil they ground it up into flour (by hand) and cooked it into pancakes, or else they boiled it into slimy bland things. Here I have the luxury of spices, seasonings, labour-saving devices, and sweet chili sauce. I could probably get about fifteen different varieties of yam, just within a mile of my house. They appear to be a significant part of West Indian and Latin American diets. So there must be a good way to prepare them, because a whole lot of people are, and I sure like the rest of their food. I found a recipe for [coconut, banana and yam stew](http://www.vegan-food.net/index.cgi?10). But that will only use half a pound. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-with-three-pounds-of-yams/346390/13 "2006-02-28T00:26:59Z")
> [@Nawth Chucka](#): > > I have forwarded this to my mom, who was raised on a farm w/ a bunch of other kids and not so much in the way of food sometimes besides veggies. Personally, I’m wondering if you can cook them like the little yellow squash slices, breaded & fried tempura style? Or can they be shredded into a cole slaw kind of salad? > > No, I do not volunteer to do the shredding! Yams cannot be shredded. You shouldn’t eat them raw; some of them have toxins that require cooking. Most do not; these probably do not. So that’s not really a problem. However, more importantly, raw yams are nasty. I make a pretty good sweet-potato bread, if you’re interested in yeast and kneading. A variation on the classic potato bread. Only . . . sweeter. I also LOVE sweet potato soup. Yams are great in thai-style food: coconut milk, mushrooms, onions, curry, and yams. Add some chicken if you want. Brilliant soup. Yams are pretty dang versatile. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-with-three-pounds-of-yams/346390/14 "2006-02-28T00:28:47Z")
> [@Nawth Chucka](#): > > Personally, I’m wondering if you can cook them like the little yellow squash slices, breaded & fried tempura style? I’ve often eaten yam tempura in Japanese restaurants. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-with-three-pounds-of-yams/346390/15 "2006-02-28T00:47:49Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > I make a pretty good sweet-potato bread, if you’re interested in yeast and kneading. A variation on the classic potato bread. Only . . . sweeter. > > I also LOVE sweet potato soup. Yams are great in thai-style food: coconut milk, mushrooms, onions, curry, and yams. Add some chicken if you want. Brilliant soup. > > Yams are pretty dang versatile. Nitpick: “Yam” is often used, in the U.S., as a synonym for “sweet potato” – but **cowgirl** appears to be talking about a different vegetable, unrelated to the sweet potato. (See Wikipedia link above.) ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-with-three-pounds-of-yams/346390/16 "2006-02-28T00:49:36Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Nitpick: “Yam” is often used, in the U.S., as a synonym for “sweet potato” – but **cowgirl** appears to be talking about a different vegetable, unrelated to the sweet potato. (See Wikipedia link above.) –which is why I used both terms interchangeably, intentionally. Both will work for everything I mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-with-three-pounds-of-yams/346390/17 "2006-02-28T01:01:39Z")
Battered tempura-style or julienned and deep fried. That’s pretty much the only way I’ll eat them. MMmmm yam fries. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-with-three-pounds-of-yams/346390/18 "2006-02-28T01:13:55Z")
I like them sliced longways, tossed in oil and salt, then roasted in a 500-degree oven for like 10 minutes, just till you start to smell smoke. Or unsalted, and then dipped in tamari. ---
**Author:** ![cowgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@cowgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cowgirl)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-with-three-pounds-of-yams/346390/19 "2006-02-28T01:27:42Z")
> [@cowgirl](#): > > I found a recipe for [coconut, banana and yam stew](http://www.vegan-food.net/index.cgi?10). But that will only use half a pound. FTR, this is good. It needs a bit more zest, tho, so I added some curry paste. Yum. ---
**Author:** ![wonderlust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonderlust/32/7237_2.png) [@wonderlust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonderlust)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-with-three-pounds-of-yams/346390/20 "2006-02-28T01:31:53Z")
They’re great in pancakes, or in muffins (substitute for pumpkin in pumpkin muffin recipes, but if they’re very dry, add more liquid). I yam what I yam and that’s all what I yam I’m Popeye the Sailor Man (Toot toot!) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-with-three-pounds-of-yams/346390.md?page=2)