Ewa Agoyin
A Lagos street-food staple with a real cross-border origin worth stating honestly rather than presenting it as an indigenous Yoruba invention: 'Agoyin' is the Lagos term for immigrants from Togo, Ghana, and Benin Republic, and the dish is specifically tied to Togolese and Beninese laborers who migrated to Lagos in the 1960s, popularizing it as street food through the 1980s and 90s. It's now deeply woven into Lagos food culture, commonly paired with agege bread, but many Nigerians themselves don't realize its origin lies outside Nigeria. Real ewa agoyin boils honey beans plain, with no seasoning, then mashes them coarsely rather than pureeing smooth, pairing them with a separately made pepper sauce, blended dried red pepper slow-fried in a generous amount of palm oil until dark, glossy, and thick.
Ingredients
- 2 cups honey beans (or black-eyed peas)
- 1 cup dried red chiles, blended
- 1 onion, blended
- 1/2 cup palm oil
- Salt, to taste
- Fried plantain or bread, to serve
Steps
- Boil the beans plain in water, with no seasoning, until very soft.
- Mash the beans coarsely, leaving some texture.
- Heat the palm oil and slowly fry the blended pepper and onion, stirring often, until dark red-black and thick, 25-30 minutes.
- Season the pepper sauce with salt.
- Serve the mashed beans topped generously with the pepper sauce, alongside bread or fried plantain.