Gbegiri is not on the blog??? It’s so easy to get carried away with blogging about things that interest you and not the essentials. I think I may need to start a series called “Back to the basics with Nigerian food” Maybe on Youtube?
Speaking of Youtube, have you subscribed to my channel? Please make sure you subscribe and hit the notification bell so you can get fresh content as it comes in. I have started a series on there called “The Business of Food.” If you run a food business, you might want to check it out. Ok enough self promotion, back to this Gbegiri business.
Gbegiri is a bean based soup typically eaten in the south western part of Nigeria. Gbegiri is seldom eaten on it’s own. It’s paired with three other elements which are ewedu (Jute leaf soup), a tomato based stew and swallow (amala, pounded yam or eba) of your choice. This combination is often referred to as Abula.
Gbegiri prepared the original way may seem labour intensive to some but being that I am from the south south part of Nigeria, I am used to labour intensive dishes. If you want to skip the hard part which in this case is soaking the beans and waiting for it to soften to wash, you can prepare this with beans flour. I’d suggest cooking the beans flour on low heat slightly longer. Let’s get to the recipe.
RECIPE FOR GBEGIRI SOUP
Ingredients
1 cup of Brown Beans (Honey Beans)
A tablespoon of Crayfish Powder
1 – 2 Seasoning Cubes
A Cooking Spoon of Palm Oil
Salt to taste
Method
In a bowl, soak your beans for 30 mins to an hour in water.
Once you rub the skin and it starts to peel, wash beans completely until all the peels are removed.
In a pot, bring to boil the peeled beans with 1 cup of water. Boil on medium heat until the beans is soft and mushy.
If you have a cooking broom(Ijabe), you may use it at this time to mash the beans further till a somewhat smooth texture is achieved.
In the absence of a cooking broom, you can blend the beans till smooth. The use of the cooking broom is the traditional method of preparation but you can bypass that and use your blender. It doesn’t change the taste.
Once blended, pass through a sieve to further ensure its silky smooth.
Pour your sieved beans into a pot, pour in your crayfish powder, seasoning cube, salt and palm oil and using a whisk, stir to combine before placing on the burner. If your mix is too thick, pour in 1/4 cup of water at a time to loosen the mix and stir on the heat for about 2-3 minutes, loosening as you go.
Once a silky texture is achieved, turn off the heat and serve with the other elements of your Abula.
I chose to go fancy in my plating you can serve as you dim fit.
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