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Agege Bread and Ewa Agoyin

Also known as Agege Bread and Ewa Agoyin (Budget Street Breakfast)

Agege Bread and Ewa Agoyin is the quintessential Lagos budget breakfast — one of the most satisfying and beloved street food combinations in Nigeria. The Ewa Agoyin (soft mashed beans with the extraordinary dark, long-cooked Agoyin pepper sauce) paired with the soft, slightly sweet Agege bread creates a meal that is simultaneously cheap, filling, protein-rich and deeply delicious.

Agege Bread and Ewa Agoyin, Nigerian cooking

Ingredients

  • 2 big cups of honey beans, soaked overnight
  • 1 big onion, quartered
  • Salt to taste FOR THE AGOYIN SAUCE (the defining element):
  • 5 big ripe tomatoes, blended
  • 3 big Tatashe, blended
  • 5 to 6 Atarodo (very hot chilli peppers), blended
  • 2 big onions — 1 blended with peppers, 1 thinly sliced
  • 5 cooking spoons of vegetable oil
  • 2 big tablespoons of iru (fermented locust beans)
  • 3 seasoning cubes (Knorr), crushed
  • Salt to taste TO SERVE:
  • Agege bread loaf (or any soft, slightly sweet white bread)

Method

  1. 01

    Cooking the Beans to Total Softness. Boil drained soaked beans with quartered onion for 1 to 1.5 hours until completely falling apart. Drain slightly, leaving just a little cooking liquid. Mash completely with a wooden spoon or potato masher. Season with salt. The Ewa should be completely smooth and porridge-like.

  2. 02

    Making the Long-Cooked Agoyin Sauce. Heat 5 cooking spoons of oil in a heavy-bottomed pot. Add sliced onion and fry for 5 minutes until deeply golden. Add iru and fry 2 minutes. Pour in all blended peppers and onion. Fry very vigorously for 35 to 45 minutes — longer than any standard Nigerian stew — stirring every 5 minutes. The Agoyin sauce must become very dark, very concentrated and deeply caramelised. The oil must float clearly on top. This long cooking is what makes Agoyin sauce unique.

  3. 03

    Seasoning the Sauce. Add seasoning cubes and salt. Cook 3 more minutes. The finished Agoyin sauce should be almost black-red, thick and intensely flavoured.

  4. 04

    Serving. Ladle warm mashed beans into a bowl or onto a plate. Pour the hot Agoyin sauce very generously over the beans. Serve with thick slices of Agege bread alongside for scooping.

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