Category: Food Recipes

These days, I rarely find the sales of Ewa Aganyin (also spelt Agoyin) within our communities compared to how it was commonly hawked in all the nooks and crannies of our neighbourhood particularly in the 90s. In fact, sometimes last year, I was virtually hunting for a local buka around my area where I could actually enjoy the perfect food but to my disappointment I could not locate a place. All I find is the common beans and fried stewed which is distinctively different both in looks and taste to Ewa Aganyin.

In my reminiscing, I can not but remember how I and my brothers looked forward to visiting my maternal grandmother as we were sure to eat plenty Ewa Aganyin within the first few days during the Easter break. These days, the younger ones are clueless of the meal and It is fast becoming a meal that is rarely included in our diets particularly for some of us residing in cities.

How To Cook Ewa Aganyin

This post will show you how to make the Ewa Aganyin delicacy for your family. No need to go hunting to enjoy the perfect meal.

Ewa Aganyin Ingredients

• 2 tins cups of brown beans.
• 2 large white onion bulbs and 2 small bell pepper (Tatashe)
• 2 tablespoons grated ginger or to your preferred taste.
• One cup of dried Chilli Pepper – popularly called Shombo by Yorubas.
• 5-6 cooking spoons of palm oil. You could use slightly more than this amount.
• Salt and Maggi to taste.
• Some quantities of powder crayfish.

Instruction For Preparation of Ewa Aganyin Beans

• Collect some amount of brown beans based on the quantity you would like to cook.
• Separate the shaft and other unwanted items.
• Pour some amount of water to clean up the beans and do the process twice.
• Place your pot on cooker and add some amount of water. You could use a pressure cooker to quicken the cooking time.
• When water is hot pour your cleaned beans into the pot and allow to cook until the beans had absorbed all the water and very soft. Add salt to taste just before the beans had absorbed all the water. You can always add more water to give room for further cooking at any stage.
• Use a pestle to mash all the beans until you cannot find a whole bean again.

This is quite a simple procedure…….but what makes Ewa Aganyi actually unique compare to other foods in my opinion is not really the beans but the stew. You will definitely ask for more if you get it right.

Instruction For Making The Ewa Aganyin Sauce

1. Slice the two big size onions into very tiny pieces and set aside.
2. Soak the dried chilli pepper in hot water for 10minute to make them absorb and soften. Drain water, rinse once more and set aside with about 1-2 cleaned pieces of fresh bell pepper.
3. Pour the pepper mix excluding the onions into a blender with little amount of water. Do not turn the pepper to complete puree. It must be in the form pepper to be used for rice stew.
4. Set aside over a sieve to remove excess water.
5. Place a non sticky pot over a cooker under low heat and pour palm oil.
6. Allow the oil to get heated up until it becomes clear. Add the diced onions and stir until the onions turns dark colour but not burnt. This could take some minutes. The continuous frying helps to ensure.a.sandy grainy texture.
7. Add powder crayfish and ginger, blended pepper, salt and seasoning cube (Maggi). All this must be done under medium heat. Stir continuously and cover pot to allow the mixture to cook for 15-20 minutes until the stew turns dark.

Your Aganyin stew is ready. Please note that the end result of your stew must be of slightly thick consistency with a lot of palm oil all over as that is the ideal form for the delicacy. So, you could extend the cooking period to achieve this result.

Dish out the beans and pour the sauce over the top of it. Serve with Agege bread or fried plantain.

People suffering from celiac disease or gluten-induced enteropathy will find gluten-free bread suitable. What we do in the production of gluten-free bread is basically to eliminate flours with gluten-rich protein from the ingredients list.

Next, we will be defining the key terms in this article — Celiac Disease and Gluten. We all should know what bread is. If you don’t know what a bread is, tell me where you come from, perhaps I could make some effort to understand.

What Is Celiac Disease?

Celiac Disease is estimated to affect 1 in 100 people worldwide. It is an autoimmune disorder that can occur in genetically predisposed people where the ingestion of gluten leads to damage in the small intestine (celiac.org). Click here to read more on Celiac Disease (symptoms, tests and treatment).

What Is Gluten?

Gluten is a protein found in many types of foods including but not limited to rye, barley and wheat (used in making bread and some other pastries). Gluten helps foods maintain their shape, acting as a glue that holds food together.

How To Make Bread Free from Gluten (Ingredients and Instructions)

Below are the materials and ingredients neeeded with prepapration instructions.

Material Needed For Production

• Loaf tin
• On-stick paper
• A piece of bowl
• Teaspoon
• Measuring jar
• Kitchen measuring scale
• 130 ml of warm water
• 150g of corn flour
• 15g fresh yeast

Ingredients for making Gluten-free Bread

• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Sugar
• 50g dried Skim Milk Powder
• 10g melted fat (Butter or Margarine)

Instructions for Preparing Gluten-free Bread at Home

1. Sprinkle the yeast into some warm water, add sugar and keep the mixture in a warm environment for about 20-30 minutes.
2. Mix the corn flour, salt, milk powder, the yeast plus sugar mixture and melted fat in the bowl. Mix thoroughly to get a smooth, creamy thick batter.
3. Pour it into an already lined baking tin with non-stick paper.
4. Allow to proof in a warm place.
5. Preheat the oven to 175-180°C
6. Bake until the internal temperature of the bread reaches 99°C (the center should feel firm and fringy at this point).
7. Remove bread from oven and allow to cool

Important Warning on Yeast:

The Baker’s yeast, “Saccharomyces cerevisiae” is a fungus and is naturally gluten-free. I can inform you that some packaged yeasts are NOT gluten-free. Therefore, it is important to always check the label.

We have all eaten tomato ketchup at some points in our lives to eat foods like fries and chicken. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could make your own fresh tomato ketchup at home? You can make it the way you like it. If you like your ketchup spicy, you can add as much chilli as you want. If you like it more or less sour, you can control the quantity of vinegar in it. The possibilities are endless.

Some of the popular ones include Heinz and Maggi. Tomato ketchup is a sauce prepared using clean tomato in addition to ingredients such as sugar syrup, salt, vinegar, colour (optional), onions, garlic and other spices. Tomato ketchup usually contains about 12% tomato solids. Surprising right?

How To Make Tomato Ketchup At Home [The Recipe]

Below are the materials (kitchen utensils and appliances) and ingredients that you need to prepare tomato ketchup at home.

Material Needed

• Blender
• Gas/Electric Cooker
• Weighing Balance
• Cooking  Pots
• Muslin Cloth
• Sieve
• Stirrers

Ingredients For Making Tomato Ketchup (Recipe)

• Tomato Juice (3.5 litres)
• Salt (97.5 g)
• Sugar (170 g)
• Vinegar (27.22 g)
• Chopped Onions (56.7 g)
• Ground Cinnamon (3.36 g)
• Chopped Garlic (2.20 g)
• Penang Mace (tone) (0.50 g)
• Ground Cloves (2.13 g)
• Powdered paprika (0.50 g)
• Chilli (25.06 g)
• Ground White Pepper (25.06g)
• Colour (4-5 drops)

Procedure for preparing the Tomato Ketchup

• Sort your tomatoes such that you only have the good ones
• Immerse tomatoes (whole) in hot water standing at 90ºC for 3-6 seconds. Spray with cold water.
• Peel off tomato skin by pulling the skin back from the blossom end
• Remove the seed cavity neatly with a knife
• Pulp the tomatoes in a blender and strain (you only need 3.5 litres of it)
• Heat the tomato pulp in an open pan for 1 hour at 90ºC
• While boiling, add all spices and salt into the boiling puree. Add the sugar syrup.
• Boil until you have the consistency you desire.

Allow the ketchup to cool. You can serve with the food of your choice and store the rest in your refrigerator.

Hello friends, it is time to learn how to make my favourite stews. People around me ask-why I love this so much. I answer; because it is healthier than most of others stews we consume daily.  Do not forget to read from the previous article I posted on how garden eggs can improve your health.

If you have not eaten garden eggs sauce before, this is a one time opportunity to give it a shot and you will be thankful you did. Lets go straight to the steps involved in making garden egg sauce delicious.

Ingredients for making Garden Egg Sauce

• 10 average size of garden eggs ( I prefer the white ones)
• 5-6 pieces average size of pepper, 2-3 pieces average size of tomatoes and one large size of onions.
• Iru ( Completely optional), Cube seasonings and Salt
• Palm oil (3 cooking spoons). You could add more if need be
• 2-3 Boiled Titus fish or smoked fish (I prefer the roasted one)
• Some amount of water

Method Of Preparation

• Purchase about 10 fresh average size green or white type of garden eggs. Wash then clean in a running water.
• Cut and dice into tiny pieces and pour into a powerful blender.
• Add enough water to make the blades of the blender oscillate.
• Blend until it has a very smooth thick consistency.

Pour the pasty garden egg into a clean cooking pot and cook for 2-3 minutes until it further thickens under low heat. Ensure you continuously stir to avoid burnt garden egg puree. Keep this aside.

• Dice a big size onions into smaller pieces and set aside.
• Use a hand blender to blend two to three average size tomato and plenty pepper (rhodo) and set aside. If you do not like pepper you could reduce the ratio to your preference. You could pound this to form a paste if you can.
• Using your clean hands, cut your roasted fish into smaller pieces and set aside.
• How To Make The Gargen Egg Sauce
• Pour about three cooking spoons of palm oil into a clean non sticky big frying pot or pan placed on a cooker. Ensure low heat.
• When the oil is hot, had you diced onions. I seriously love onions, so I used a very big size. Stir for about 15- 20seconds.
• Add your prepared garden egg paste and allow to cook by covering the pot under low heat for about 10minutes. Do not forget to stir during this period. This should be done when the little water in the garden egg puree disappears. You must stir once in a while to avoid burnt sauce.
• Add your grated or pounded pepper, Iru pete (Mashed locust beans but optional based on your preference) and cube seasoning and salt to taste. Allow to cook for some minutes. You could add a little water to give room for the further cooking but ensure you sauce ends up in a thick consistency usually with no water.
• Add the boiled Titus or roasted fish and stir. Do this not more than 90 seconds.
• Your garden egg sauce is ready to be served with boiled or fried yam, boiled or fried plantain and boiled rice

If you do have time to try out this recipe, do not forget to share your experience here. In fact you could be adventurous with the ingredients to make the sauce.

ALSO SEE: See How Garden Egg Can Boost Your Health