Last weekend I bought some yams and eddoes. While there are several dishes I could have made with them, I opted to make a Choka with each.
I chose to make Choka for 2 separate reasons – I remembered as a child, my aunt Betty making Yam Choka and always wanted to try it myself. And I saw in one of my social media feeds, on more than one occasion, Trinidadian Eddo Choka. Hmmm, I thought, this looks interesting.
My aunt Betty was creative and innovative in her use of local ingredients, and this might have been the case with the Yam Choka. However, Guyanese of a certain generation would remember a time when certain food items were banned. Therefore, in the absence of English potatoes, she may have simply used yams to make the Choka that evening for dinner, accompanied by roti and big cups of black tea sweetened with sugar and milk. I have no taste memory of the Choka she made but I do remember it being white with specks of red chopped wiri wiri peppers, and green onion/scallions.
I love eddoes and could eat them boiled just like that, so the idea of trying them as a Choka was a no brainer. Thoughts of its creamy goodness mixed with roasted garlic had me salivating.
With my Sada roti cooked and kept warm wrapped in a tea towel in a bowl, I set about making the Chokas. Separately, the ground provisions, cooked in salted boiling water, were mashed piping hot with roasted garlic. Finely minced hot peppers, onions and cilantro (fresh coriander) were scattered on top and tempered with smoking hot oil before being mixed in.
Here are my thoughts on the two Chokas.
Obviously, the textures were different. The eddo choka was creamy and the yam choka was fluffy and a little dry when cool to room temperature.
Both ground provisions are bland and therefore take on the flavourings of whatever herbs or spices are added to them. That was the case here.
The Chokas tasted okay. I felt like something was missing, I am thinking that maybe they needed more aggressive flavouring, some spice. I saw in one of the eddoes recipes that they chunkayed/tempered with geera/whole cumin. I was wondering also that if instead of mashing the roasted garlic with the yam and eddo if I should have chunkayed with thinly sliced fried garlic. Next time.
I tried not to compare either choka to potato choka. But after tasting the yam and eddo choka, potato is still my favourite. Perhaps it is because I am accustomed to potato choka. I like the texture of the potatoes when mashed for choka and it is clear that the potatoes take on the flavourings more readily than their heartier counterparts.
Give either or both of these Chokas a try. From a nutrition standpoint, they are healthier than regular potato choka.
There is no particular recipe for these Chokas, make them your own. The following are ingredients that you generally find in a Choka – hot peppers, onions, garlic and scallions/green onions. Fresh coriander/cilantro as well as chadon beni (fresh or the chutney) can be added. Depending on the choka, some people might add a souring agent – fresh lime/lemon juice, green mango or tamarind.
Cynthia
