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NIGERIAN ROASTED VEG

My mum’s Sunday roast dinners were the dishes that I ate most fervently. Once in a while, she would switch it up by adding the vegetables you’d expect to see from a Nigerian meal. My favourite parts were always the potatoes because of how much their crisp exterior contrasted with the fluffy interior. I didn’t think I could eat anything fluffier until the day she swapped the potatoes for yams. Occasionally at university, when I had the energy to make the trek to the African food shop at the far end of town, I would gather the vegetables that weren’t so easy to find in supermarkets – or were available there at a much lower price – and make this dish. Sundays were the quiet days when it was easy to remember everything you missed, but preparing this made me feel connected to home.

PREP TIME: 20 MINS

COOKING TIME: 50 MINS

SERVES: 4

1/4 large puna yam, peeled and chopped

2 red onions, quartered

4 tbsp coconut oil, melted

4 salad tomatoes, quartered

16 okra fingers, halved lengthways

3 garden eggs (here) or 1 small aubergine, sliced into 1cm thick slices

1 yellow plantain, peeled and sliced diagonally

1 red pepper, deseeded and chopped

1 green pepper, deseeded and chopped

2 tsp thyme leaves

salt and cayenne pepper

Bell Pepper Soup (Obe Ata), to serve

Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas 6. Fill a large saucepan with water and when boiling, add the chopped yam. Simmer for 5 minutes and then drain.

In a mixing bowl, drizzle the yam and onions with 2 tablespoons of the coconut oil and sprinkle with salt and cayenne pepper to taste. Place the yam and onion flat on a baking tray then cover with foil and place the tray just below the middle shelf in the oven. Roast for 25 minutes until the yams are knife tender.

Meanwhile, in the same bowl as before, toss the tomatoes, okra, garden eggs or aubergine, plantain and peppers, together with the remaining coconut oil, the thyme and some salt and cayenne pepper. Once the vegetables are well coated, spread them out on a baking tray, making sure they don’t overlap.

When the yams and onions have had 25 minutes, remove the foil and return to the oven to cook for a further 20–25 minutes until nicely browned and crisping around the edges. At the same time, put the tray with the tomato mixture on the shelf just above the middle of the oven. Let this set of vegetables roast for 10–12 minutes before turning with tongs and then putting them back in for a further 10–12 minutes until they start to shrivel and soften.

Serve the roasted veg warm with Bell Pepper Soup (Obe Ata).