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Amala

Amala is a Yoruba dish made by cooking yam flour in boiling water to a smooth dough.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 2 ingredients
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Why it works: Yam and flour share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 63 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Amala

Timeabout 10 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Heat water in a pot and bring it to a boil.

  2. Gradually stir in the yam flour, mixing continuously to avoid lumps.

  3. Adjust the amount of water or yam flour to get your desired consistency.

  4. Stir well, cover, and cook on low heat for about 10 minutes.

  5. Serve with soups.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

604Calories
21 gProtein
9 gFat
107 gCarbs

Counts 2 of 4 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 2 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Waternot in our table0
Yamnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Wikibooks Cookbook.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Yam + flourtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together63 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Milk + yamtop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together32 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).

Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Water
Hydrates the yam starch so it swells and cooks into a smooth, thick paste.
Yam flour
Its starch thickens with hot water into the firm, stretchy body of the amala.

The step that matters

Gradually stirring in the yam flour. Dry flour hitting hot water clumps on the surface, and the inside stays dry. Adding it slowly while stirring constantly separates the particles so each one hydrates evenly and the starch thickens into a smooth mass.

Swap the yam

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, flour):

  1. Arrowrootfits better
  2. Yamthe original
  3. Potatofits about as well
  4. Sweet potatofits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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