Revealed! Easy Way To Cook Ewa Agoyin At Home

Ewa Agoyin, or Agoyin, is a special meal of the Agoyin people from the Benin Republic.

Ewa is a Yoruba word for beans in English.

This delicacy is a combination of very soft mashed beans and a unique spicy pepper sauce.

Ewa Agoyin is very popular in Lagos, Nigeria, and its environs and is usually hawked by Agoyin and Togolese women.

The best kind of beans to prepare this meal are oloyin beans (honey beans), even though you can use white beans (black-eyed beans) too.

Ewa Agoyin is best enjoyed with the locally baked bread popularly known as Agege bread.

It can also be served with fried plantains (dodo), boiled yam, sweet potatoes, fish, or any protein of choice.

Now, let us get straight to how you can prepare this delicious meal.

Ingredients

3 cups of beans

10 pieces of dry Cayenne pepper (shombo)

2 bulb of small onions 

2 cups of dry chili pepper 

3 cups of palm oil 

2 Cameroun pepper

1 medium-sized fresh ginger 

4 Garlic cloves 

½ cup of dry crayfish 

1 bulb of onions (sliced)

4 seasoning stock cubes 

Salt to taste 

Procedure

Pick your beans, take out dirt, stones and every other thing that is a sign of impurity.

Wash and put the beans in a pot; add enough water to cover the beans well.

Boil until very soft; add more water as you deem fit.

It’s best to use a pressure pot if you have one, as it makes it faster.

After the beans get soft, add some more water and salt.

Give it another stretch of boiling to achieve that Agonyin softness.

Turn off the heat.

Using a wooden spoon or masher, mash and stir the beans to turn them into a thick puree.

Add about 1 cup of water, stir and boil for 3-5 minutes and the Agonyin beans is ready.

This will prevent it from being dry or going sour.

Give it more mashing with turning stick.

Procedure for Ewa Agoyin Sauce

Rinse and soak dry chili peppers, shombo, and Cameroon peppers in water overnight or boil them in hot water for two hours straight until soft.

Also Read: Hilda Baci: List Of Nigerian Delicacies Made During Cook-a-thon

Use enough water to cover them.

In a blender, place 2 small onions, peppers, peeled ginger, and garlic; add the soaking liquid; and grind into a puree. Set aside.

Heat palm oil in a dry pot until very hot, add sliced onions, and fry until it floats on top and turns brown like it’s getting burnt.

Over medium heat, pour your pepper blend into the hot oil, add the crayfish and seasoning cubes, and stir.

Reduce the heat and fry until the water dries out.

Keep stirring very often for about 30 minutes or more.

Taste for salt and sourness; take off the heat.

Serve agonyi beans with pepper sauce and Agege bread.

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