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Potatoes vary in hardness. The hard ones will require longer to cook and even when ready will notr be very soft. A potato is ready if a knife will go through it smoothly and it is evenly sweet. A raw potato has a starchy taste and a half cooked one will be hard in the middle. The uncooked part will be starchy though sweet.

Irish potatoes
These are becoming increasingly popular though in most cases they are eaten with another carbohydrate food.

Boiled potatoes
1 kg potatoes
250ml water
1 teaspoon salt
•    Peel, wash and put the potatoes in a pan with water.
•    Add the salt and cover, boil for five minutes and reduce the heat.
•    They should be ready in the next 20 minutes.
•    Add a little more water if necessary.
•    Serve hot, tossed in a little margarine accompanied by a sauce.

Variation
The potatoes may be simply scrubbed and boiled without peeling.

Mashed potatoes
•    Boil the potatoes.
•    When ready add about one teaspoon margarine and mash well.
•    If too dry add a little warm milk.
•    Well mashed potatoes will be smooth without limps and not too soft.
•    They can be shaped into neat balls before serving.

Baked potatoes
Scrub the potatoes, add salt and bake in a hot oven for 45 minutes to one hour.

Sand-baked potatoes
•    Potatoes (medium size).
•    Big lumps of dry soil (dug up as the potatoes are being harvested). Dig a boat shaped shallow hole, fill it with small dry firewood and grass.
•    Arrange the soil lumps over the firewood and grass.
•    Light the firewood and allow to burn completely. In the process the soil lumps get hot but keep their shape.
•    Push the potatoes into the hole and hot ash (use a piece of stick to push them right in).
•    Hit the soil lumps to crumble them.
•    Make sure the potatoes are completely covered in the ash and hot soil. Leave in the oven for about 2 ½ hours. For smaller potatoes the baking time is shorter by which time they should be thoroughly cooked. Remove from the ash and dust off all the ash and soil.
•    Peel off the thin skin.
•    Serve with paste of groundnuts or simsim mixture or any desired sauce.
•    Instead of digging a hole the potatoes may be baked in hot ash after burning a big pile of grass and sticks like when clearing a garden.
•    Simply push them in the hot ash and leave them covered for two hours.