Ewa Agoyin is a delicious pepper sauce that is made in Yoruba land and usually served with well-cooked beans. I grew up in Lagos state and I had a lot of this for breakfast.
We add fried plantain and assorted meat sometimes, it’s to die for!
The Yorubas sure have a twist to everything. There is stew and there is this Yoruba pepper sauce for bean.
First, we are going to be making ewa agoyin (pepper sauce) using the ingredients below.
Preparing the beans is the easy part, you will find the recipe at the end of this post.
Complete Ewa Agoyin Ingredients
1 cup of dried crushed chilies/peppers
1 white onion
Large red onion (one)
1 Seasoning cube
Salt to taste
2 cups palm oil
3 cups of beans/black-eyed peas
How to Make Ewa Agoyin
Step 1
Slice half of the red onion and combine the remaining half with the white onions, pepper, a cup of water and blend.
You get this:
Step 2
Set your cooking pot on heat, add the two cups of palm oil and allow heating, but don’t let it bleach. About 3 minutes should do it.
Throughout the cooking process, you don’t let it bleach when making ewa agoyin
The red color is just what set’s it apart from the regular tomato stew.
Step 3
Once the oil is heated you can add the sliced red onions.
Fry the onion for about 3 minutes before adding the ground pepper/chillie, onions and water combination
Step 4
Now you fry.
This pepper sauce is not like the regular tomato stew, so you would fry for the next 15-25 minutes.
In no time, you will notice the sauce drying and turning dark. If it is not dark, it’s not ewa agoyin sauce.
You need the pepper to fry till it takes on the form and texture of small pebbles, or grainy, like sand.
So you would spend the next few minutes in the kitchen stirring this sauce.
Partly the reason we use the wooden spoon. I think it does a better job than the regular cooking spoon.
Lots of splashes will occur at first, it dies down with time.
The sauce is already turning dark; we are not yet there, but we would definitely get there.
By this time, the wonderful aroma has enveloped your kitchen.
If your neighbors are from Yoruba, they should gather already.
Add a cube of seasoning and salt to taste. Fry for another 3-4 minutes, and you are done with the making of ewa agoyin (Yoruba pepper sauce).
It should be dried but not burned.
How to Boil Ewa (Beans).
You will need:
3 cups of beans
Half teaspoon of salt
Serving: 3 Persons.
In Nigeria, we have both brown and white beans (black eyed peas). You can cook any color or specie. Ewa agoyin is however, always made of brown beans.
Add the beans to boiling water and allow it to simmer for about 5 minutes, turn off the heat, wash and set aside.
Boil 5 cups of water and start cooking the beans in it. You can add more water in-between.
We like it really soft. Add a teaspoon of salt.
Cook until the beans are really soft, then serve with the pepper sauce and agege bread.
Agege bread is a special soft and delicious bread that is made in Lagos, Nigeria. You can substitute with any other bread if you don’t live in Lagos, Nigeria.
How to Serve Ewa Agoyin
This is how to serve ewa agoyin in Nigeria, I love it!
Click Here for MoreYoruba foods like ewa agoyin!
Find a printable easy recipe for ewa agoyin below.
Ewa Agoyin Sauce Recipe with Bean and bread
Equipment
- Pots
Ingredients
- 1 cup of dried crushed chilies/peppers
- 1 white onion
- 1 red onion
- 1 Seasoning cube
- Salt to taste
- 2 cups of palm oil
- 3 cups of beans/black-eyed peas
Instructions
- Blend the peppers and onions together to get a smooth paste.
- Set your cooking pot on heat, add 600ml of palm oil (2 cups) let it heat for 3 minutes but don't let it bleach.
- Add 1 cup of thinly sliced red onion to the heated oil and let it fry for just about 3 minutes.
- Now go ahead to add the ground chili/peppers/onion combination.
- Now you fry the sauce for the next 15-20 minutes. By the time you are done, it should have turned a little dark.
- Add a seasoning cube and salt to taste. You should have your sauce ready in a minute.
- Serve ewa agoyin sauce with bean, you can throw in few slices of bread.
I would love to read your comments below, have you tried it yet?
16 Comments
This is sweet except Akara and bread is more appealing
I just finished preparing mine now.d aroma is wooooow.my daughter ran to me just now and said”mum,dis ur beans is going to be very sweet o,see how it’s smelling every where in d house.lolz.cant wait to hv my beans done.d sauce is cooling in d fry pan.kudos,got my recipe here and decided to try it now.
Very delicious, I love Nigerian foods and this is one of my favorites.
Thanks for the information, I have loved ewa agoyin from my childhood. Thanks for the recipe.
Your cooking recipes is the best thanks
Wow???, I just stumbled on this page just now!
And this ewa agoyin recipe has been a blast!!
Ma’am chy..ya blessed
I’ll like to get more of this recipe to make my family mouth water???????
Beautiful,… but you missed the part that it can also be eaten with boiled Yam!!! and one boiled Egg and fish. Kai!!! NNE you try!
Well done Chidi. Good work you’re doing highlighting this great meal. I remember with pleasant nostalgic feelings EE’s Agoyin in my younger days in Lagos.
However, I don’t think Ewa Agoyin is a Yoruba recipe. I think it originated from the Agoyin people from Togo, who lived in Lagos at the time. But of course it has become a very popular recipe in south of Nigeria.
You ar very correct,its originate from the togo who lived in lagos
nice work chy
This is yummy, I love ewa agoyin, saved me a lot of money as a student growing up in Lagos. I could buy a plate for just 80 naira.
Interesting! Well done, Aunty Chidi. Cooking is life – bae! LOL…
I read through the recipe and I was salivating as I read. You know why? Beans is my favorite! However, permit me to make a few corrections.
1. ‘Ewa Aganyin (Agoyin)’ is so called, because it’s an Aganyin recipe. Ewa is Beans so ‘Ewa Aganyin’ is Aganyin (people) beans’, just like ‘Ghana Jollof’.
2. The oil for Aganyin, traditionally, is bleached. This makes the oil turn black and very light so that it melts in the beans when served.
3. The pepper for Ewa Aganyin sauce has a formation. Haha.. Dried cayenne pepper seeds, ginger and garlic. A ground* combination of these form a grey- coloured paste that is then fried. I know this because while growing up, we used to buy this paste when we wanted to make the sauce. However, for inaccessibility to this paste, chilli pepper is a good improvization. Have you tried fresh habanero pepper, one or two hard tomatoes and red onions before? You will love it! Just blend and fry with the same procedure but it doesn’t have to be black. If you do try it, please let me know your feedback.
4. Red onions is more preferred than white onions when making this sauce. And to give it a more ‘Aganyin-ic’ experience, slice the onions (not in large quantity though), don’t chop it. When the oil is bleached, pour in the onions and keep stirring till it turns brown (not translucent). In the end, the onions should be black – and it’s usually tasteless, except for the oil it may have soaked.
* I used ‘ground’ because the Aganyin women used the grinding stone and not the mill or a blender. That way, they can get a perfect paste texture.
The cooking procedure is pretty much the same.
Well done ma’am. You are doing a very great job.
Thank you sis
I tried Christiana Ajiki’s method and it was Wow I so much love it,the one of blending habanero pepper and onions and tomatoes tho I add a little lit to d ingredients but it was so helpful…God bless you all
It is a Togo sauce not Yoruba sauce.
You read my mind. I thought about this food yesterday. Thank you.
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Just made this yesterday following your recipe and it turned out great!! Thank you!