Ewa Agoyin

Lagos street beans: cowpeas boiled until they collapse, mashed, and buried under a dark, smoky sauce of palm oil fried with dried peppers and onions

Origin: Lagos & Yorubaland

From the journey of Cowpea.

Ewa agoyin is the bean dish of the Lagos street, and its name carries its history. Ẹ̀wà is Yoruba for beans, which in Nigeria means cowpeas, and the Agoyin are people from what are now Benin and Togo, who brought the dish to the streets of Lagos and made it famous. The beans, usually the small brown honey beans called oloyin or black-eyed peas, are boiled for a long time until they are completely soft, then mashed roughly, and a plain mash of beans is not the point. The point is the sauce. Agoyin sauce is made by heating palm oil until it bleaches and smokes lightly, which burns off its raw note and leaves a deep, nutty oil, then frying in it a great quantity of onion and a paste of dried red peppers until the whole thing is almost black. It is spooned over the beans at the stall, and the beans are eaten with agege bread, the soft, dense white loaf of Lagos, or with fried plantain, for breakfast or lunch.

Ingredients

Beans

400 g dried honey beans (ewa oloyin) or black-eyed peas
0.5 onion, sliced
1 tsp salt, or to taste

Agoyin Sauce

150 ml red palm oil
3 large onions, finely sliced
6 dried red bell peppers (tatashe), soaked in hot water for 20 minutes
4 dried red chillies, soaked with the peppers
1 tbsp ground crayfish (optional)
1 stock cube (optional)
Salt

To Serve

Agege bread or fried ripe plantain, to serve

Method

Pick over and rinse the beans. Put them in a large pan with plenty of water and the sliced onion, bring to the boil, and boil for 15 minutes. Drain, cover with fresh water, and return to the boil.
Boil the beans for 1 to 1.5 hours more, adding water as needed, until they are completely soft and falling apart.
Season with salt and mash roughly with a wooden spoon. Cook off any excess water, stirring, until the beans are thick and soft. Keep warm.
Drain the soaked peppers and chillies and blend them with a few tablespoons of their soaking water to a thick paste.
In a heavy pot, heat the palm oil over a medium heat with the lid ajar and the windows open, until it turns from red to pale gold and smokes lightly, about 10 minutes. Take it off the heat and let it cool for 5 minutes.
Return the oil to a medium heat, add the onions, and fry for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring often, until they are deep brown and darkening at the edges.
Add the pepper paste, crayfish, and stock cube, and fry for a further 15 to 20 minutes, stirring, until the oil separates and the sauce is very dark and fragrant. Season with salt.
Serve the beans with a generous spoonful of the sauce over the top, with agege bread or fried plantain.

Notes

Honey beans (oloyin) are a small brown cowpea with a naturally sweet taste, sold in African grocers. Black-eyed peas give a paler, milder result. If you would rather not bleach the oil, the sauce can be made with palm oil simply warmed, but it will taste of fresh palm oil rather than of the smoky Lagos original.

The Gastrographer

Name: Ewa Agoyin
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 2 h
Total time: 2 h 20 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Lagos & Yorubaland
Ingredients: 400 g dried honey beans (ewa oloyin) or black-eyed peas; 0.5 onion, sliced; 1 tsp salt, or to taste; 150 ml red palm oil; 3 large onions, finely sliced; 6 dried red bell peppers (tatashe), soaked in hot water for 20 minutes; 4 dried red chillies, soaked with the peppers; 1 tbsp ground crayfish (optional); 1 stock cube (optional); Salt; Agege bread or fried ripe plantain, to serve

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control