Ewa agoyin sauce/stew is a very simple Nigerian stew prepared by frying onion and pepper in palm oil, this recipe is very popular among the western parts of Nigeria Yoruba), in fact, it is a famous stew recipe found in the streets of Lagos. The word Ewa simply means Beans in Yoruba language, while Agoyinis a word used by Nigerians to describe people from the neighbouring countries such as Ghana, Togo, Benin republic, Cotonu; the word was used to describe the way people from these regions make their beans meal and it is more peculiar to the Togolese and Cotonu people. Ewa agoyin is also spelled as Ewa Aganyin
Ewa agoyin stew has a dark and almost black color unlike the popular Nigerian tomato stewwhich is orangey in color. This is because it is left to sit on heat for a longer time and as a result, the outcome will be a darker, gritty and crunchy stew with a smoky flavour.
Ewa agoyin sauce/stew has a unique and irresistible aroma that comes from the fried onions and pepper; it is one of the simplest stew or sauce recipes that doesnt require much ingredients. However, this delicious sauce is prepared without fish or meat and as simple as it is it goes well with bread, boiled yam, fried plantain and mashed beans (ewa agoyin beans) is which is the main side dish for ewa agoyin sauce. Any beans such as honey beans, black eyed beans can be used to serve with ewa agoyin, the beans is usually prepared to be very soft and afterward mashed and spread out in a plate; creating a trench in the centre for the stew to be poured in .
Ewa agoyin sauce/stew is traditionally prepared with dried peppers (cayenne pepper, tatashe, shambo and ata rodo, chillies), but in a situation where you can find all the mentioned dried peppers at once, you can still combine fresh bell peppers with some dried chillies to blend if you cant fine dried peppers where you reside. If you are you using dried peppers for this stew, make sure you soak the peppers in water for few hours before blending.
This stew can be very peppery, if you cant tolerate much of the heat in this stew, simply do as I did by taking out some of the seeds from the shombo and instead of using cayenne pepper which is the hottest of all, you can use dried chilies. In this case, you will be able to balance the heat in this stew for everyone to enjoy, especially your kids. Watch the video above for simple explanation on how to make Ewa Agoyin Stew.
Table of Contents
Ewa Agoyin Sauce Ingredients
- 4 medium red bell peppers, (tatashe)
- 3 red chillies (shombo)
- 1 medium onion, halve into two
- 1 tablespoon roughly broken dried peppers
- 2 scotch bonnets
- 1 tablespoon pepper seeds, optional
- 1-2 seasoning cubes
- 1 tablespoon ground crayfish
- 1 cup palm oil
- Salt to taste
Ingredients for making ewa agoyin sauce/stew
How to MakeEwa Agoyin Sauce/Stew
- Combine all the peppers and onion together to blend with just a little water and set aside.
- Place a medium pot on heat and add palm oil into it, cover the oil to bleach for 10 minutes on high heat.
- Chop the other onion into long stands while the oil is bleaching; at this point, the oil must have turned golden.
- Turn off the burner and add the chopped onion and the roughly crush dried pepper to the oil and stir-fry for 2 minutes or until the onion is caramelized but not burnt.
- Turn the heat on to medium low; add the blended pepper to the oil and fry, stirring occasionally.
- Once the pepper is properly fried, the oil will rise to the top, season the sauce with ground crayfish, seasoning cubes and salt, stir and leave to simmer on medium heat to infuse aroma.
- Add the pepper seeds if youre using these and stir the sauce occasionally to prevent form burning at the bottom of the pot. You will notice the colour of the stew becoming darker which is exactly what you want, keep stirring to get your preferred colour and texture.
- Ewa agoyin sauce is ready once it is dark and gritty. Note: I dont really like my ewa agoyin sauce to be very dark, so I put off heat once I have achieved a slightly dark colour like what you are seeing above. Serve ewa agoyin over mashed beans
Steps on How to MakeEwa Agoyin Sauce with Pictures
1. Combine all the peppers and onion together to blend with just a little water and set aside.
2. Place a medium pot on heat and add palm oil into it, cover the oil to bleach for 10 minutes on high heat.
Heating of palm oil for ewa agoyin sauce
3. Chop the other onion into long stands while the oil is bleaching; at this point, the oil must have turned golden.
Chop onion into long strips
4. Turn off the burner and add the chopped onion and the roughly crush dried pepper to the oil and stir-fry for 2 minutes or until the onion is caramelized but not burnt.
Fry the onion until it caramelizes and fragrant
5. Turn the heat on to medium low; add the blended pepper to the oil and fry, stirring occasionally.
Still on the process of frying the blended pepper
6. Once the pepper is properly fried, the oil will rise to the top, season the sauce with ground crayfish, seasoning cubes and salt, stir and leave to simmer on medium heat to infuse aroma.
You can notice the tiny bubbles of the oil which means that the water in the pepper has completely evaporated and the sauce is well fried, you can add some seasonings to it and stir
7. Add the pepper seeds if youre using these and stir the sauce occasionally to prevent from burning at the bottom of the pot. You will notice the colour of the stew becoming darker which is exactly what you want, keep stirring to get yourpreferred colour and texture.
It was my own choice to add some pepper seeds to this sauce, if you can’t tolerate the heat, skip this
As keep stirring the sauce is becoming darker which is what you want
Now, this is ewa agoyin sauce as it’s supposed to be if you don’t really like the darker version
Ewa agoyin sauce is ready
8. Ewa agoyin sauce is ready once it is dark and gritty. Note: I dont really like my ewa agoyin sauce to be very dark, so I put off heat once I have achieved a slightly dark colour like what you are seeing above. Serve ewa agoyin over mashed beans.
Ewa agoyin sauce/stew served over mashed beans