Fio Fio

The Igbo pigeon pea porridge of Enugu and Nsukka: pigeon peas boiled until soft and cooked with cocoyam, palm oil, hot pepper, crayfish, and fermented oil bean into a thick, spicy pot

Origin: Enugu, Nsukka & Igboland, Nigeria

From the journey of Pigeon Pea.

Fio fio is the pigeon pea dish of the Igbo of south-eastern Nigeria, and above all of Enugu State and the Nsukka area, where it is also called agbugbu and ayaraya ji. The dried peas, themselves called fio fio, are slow to soften, and they are boiled for as long as two hours before they go into the pot with cocoyam or yam, red palm oil, onion, hot pepper, ground crayfish, and sliced ugba, the fermented seed of the African oil bean tree. The result is a thick, orange, fiercely peppery porridge, scented with utazi or scent leaves stirred in at the end, and it is eaten on its own or with boiled yam. A related Nsukka dish cooks the peas with achicha, dried cocoyam flakes. The pulse is a quiet link between Igboland and the Caribbean. The Bight of Biafra, the coast below the Igbo country, was one of the great departure points of the Atlantic slave trade; most of the people shipped from it were Igbo, and very many of them were taken to Barbados and Jamaica. Slavers stocked their ships with African foods, pigeon peas among them, in the belief that captives survived the voyage better on food they knew, and the pulse cooked in Enugu as fio fio is the gungo pea of Jamaica and the pigeon pea of Barbados.

Ingredients

Peas

400 g dried pigeon peas (fio fio), soaked overnight

Pot

500 g cocoyam (ede) or yam, peeled and cut into chunks
4 tbsp red palm oil
1 onion, chopped
2 Scotch bonnet peppers (ose), finely chopped, or to taste
2 tbsp ground crayfish
3 tbsp sliced ugba (fermented oil bean), rinsed (optional)
1 handful utazi or scent leaves (nchuanwu), shredded
1 stock cube, crumbled (optional)
Salt

Method

Drain the pigeon peas, cover with fresh water, and boil for 1½ to 2 hours, topping up with hot water, until completely soft. (A pressure cooker takes about 40 minutes.)
Meanwhile boil the cocoyam until tender, peel if boiled in its skin, and roughly mash about half of it.
Heat the palm oil in a heavy pot, add the onion, and fry gently for 3 minutes. Add the pepper and crayfish and cook for a minute more.
Add the drained peas, all the cocoyam, the ugba, the stock cube, a little salt, and enough of the pea cooking water to make a thick porridge. Simmer, stirring, for 10 to 15 minutes, until the mashed cocoyam has thickened the pot.
Stir in the utazi or scent leaves, taste for salt, and serve hot.

Notes

Utazi is bitter; use a small handful. Scent leaf (Ocimum gratissimum) is milder. Dried fish or smoked meat is sometimes added with the cocoyam.

The Gastrographer

Name: Fio Fio
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 2 h 30 min
Total time: 2 h 50 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Nigeria
Ingredients: 400 g dried pigeon peas (fio fio), soaked overnight; 500 g cocoyam (ede) or yam, peeled and cut into chunks; 4 tbsp red palm oil; 1 onion, chopped; 2 Scotch bonnet peppers (ose), finely chopped, or to taste; 2 tbsp ground crayfish; 3 tbsp sliced ugba (fermented oil bean), rinsed (optional); 1 handful utazi or scent leaves (nchuanwu), shredded; 1 stock cube, crumbled (optional); Salt

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control