Asaro (Yam and Plantain Curry)

Fabulous and fresh w the right amount of heat. We added carrots and red potatoes b/c we didn’t have enough yams and it was great! Also made a side of cilantro rice to make it stretch a bit further. Not necessary but really soaked up the flavors. Please buy and use the palm oil. Adds dimension. We will repeat this dish. Yum!

My go to recipe, something about it brings comfort year round. I wasn't able to get my hands on any plantains this time around, substituted for potatoes cut in the same style as the yams and treated the same. A knockout as usual, can't sing its praises enough

This was very flavorful. I kept the lightly caramelized shallots in the pan rather than removing them and using as a garnish. Took other cooks' advice and chopped the yams and plantains smaller, maybe 3/4" max, and added plantains 10 minutes before yams. Added the kale with the yams so ii would cook down, not a fan of crisp-tender greens in stew. Only ingredients change I might make next time is to add a yellow plantain for a touch more sweetness. Spouse loved this, he had three bowls.

I made this as written with a few modifications. 1) I left out the caramelizing of the shallots to make my lipid profile happy. 2) I used store chopped sweet potatoes instead of yams 3) Based on others' recommendations, I sliced the plantains and then quartered each slice. The sweet potatoes and plantains were the same size and cooked well. 4) I chopped the habanero pepper - which added delightful heat. I probably won't be able to remove them so.....

Japanese (white) sweet potatoes are starchier than the orange or blue varieties and perfect here. I agree with those who found the recommended size of the plantain slices too large. Plus, I dislike really green plantains. I found just-turned yellow (without black spots) cooked in same amount of time as the sweet potatoes.

This isn’t one I would cook again. Cooked exactly as described, except with a Serrano pepper. It was too acidic, too blah, too meh. Way too much turmeric, for one - I would say use one teaspoon or use curry powder instead. It’s like medicinal-level. Agree with the comments to cut everything smaller; I would say, cube the yam and plantain into bite size pieces. Agree that prawns or fish sauce might help. My husband felt had to have rice with it as leftovers, worked better.

This time around I started with yellow sweet potato (not yam), and cooked it for ten minutes. Then I added one Japanese eggplant, four carrots, one small head of broccoli, and around 6 ounces of kale (measured four cups, chopped) all at the same time. This step took around 20 more minutes to cook. Also, for my spice preference, I removed the hot pepper around halfway through the cooking. I had to add more salt. I don’t now know what the name is of what I made, but it was delicious.

I used the light yellow “sweet potatoes,” the ones closer in texture to regular potatoes, not yams. Not growing up with this dish, I feel no loyalty to what the dish is “supposed” to be for the next iterations I’m going to try. I loved the flavors of the sauce and will use it as a base again! I’m going to add in broccoli and eggplant and maybe white potatoes. I’ll try using the light coconut milk next time, and I successfully used chopped canned tomatoes instead of whole ones.

I really liked this. Tasted the sauce along the way, and took the habanero out right before adding the coconut milk. Plenty of spice. I had to cook this much longer than the cooking times given for all veggies, at least three times longer. I also had to cover it at points because of too much evaporation since the cooking times were so far off. I don’t have experience cooking plantains, so that was fun to try! Light coco next time. What is the point of the red palm oil? Please someone tell me.

I used sweet potatoes, light coconut milk, over-ripe plantains and added a huge chunk of tamarind paste. It was delicious and it tasted even better the next day after the flavors had marinated.

I decided to just caramelize the shallots and leave them in the pot. Same with the chili. The plantains I used were very pale green, almost yellow, and I didn't have issues with longer cooking time that some others had. Added some chopped peanuts for serving for the crunch.

I have made this several times, as written and it's delicious! This time I am adding a few taro roots and substituting 1 tsp of turmeric with 1 tsp of Cape Malay Curry powder.

Very tasty but takes wayyy longer than it says. With chopping and stewing etc, it took me over 2 hours.

As others noted in terms of time, I took me more than 10 minutes to crisp the shallots, not the 5 mentioned in the recipe. If one doesn't have the time, one could opt to instead use pre-made shallot crisps available in most SE Asian markets

Honestly one of the most delicious things I’ve ever made. A surprise because I thought ingredient list looked pretty familiar and similar to other recipes. Something holy happens here… much greater than some of its parts. Thank you so much Yewande!! P.s. a lot of Asian focused grocery stores sell prepackaged crunchy shallots or red onions and they are a delicious cheat!