How to cook Beans (Regular & Ewa Aganyin) the Nigerian way

Get out the beano folks. It's beans time, which means gas!

Beans is something I don't eat too often, I do eat it more so in moi-moi (steamed bean cake). I don't really eat akara either (fried bean cake). After a long beans hiatus, I decided to revisit it today. I made my version of ewa aganyin (beans w/ fried pepper sauce).

I guess the difference between regular beans and ewa aganyin is simply in the softness of the beans; regular beans can be soft but not too soft and ewa aganyin has to be soft to the point of being mushy.

Being my first time making ewa aganyin, I looked online to see various ways of cooking it and most call for cooking the beans first then frying the sauce. I didn't do mine this way, I got this recipe from a special someone and it makes sense this way actually.

It pretty much starts out the way I make jollof rice, boiling the rice in blended peppers.

To make ewa aganyin, here's what you'll need:
4 cups beans
2 cups shawa (dried fish)
1 m red bell pepper
2 m tomatoes
1 s/m red onion
3 habaneros or rodo
1 s sweet yellow onion
3 garlic cloves
2 knorr cubes
3 tbsps Goya Adobo seasoning w/ pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup palm oil
1 cup canola oil

Pick beans, remove dirt, s/ stones
Rinse 3 times, drain
Blend red bell pepper, habaneros, tomatoes, onion, 2 garlic cloves
Add 2 cups water (will be a watery mix)
Put pot on stove over medium heat
Add palm and canola oil
Let heat (not smoking)
Add blended mixture to pot
Add beans to mixture
Reduce heat to low
Slice remaining garlic clove and yellow onion into beans (will all dissolve)
Let cook on low heat for 1.5 hrs
Add seasonings
Stir and let cook further (still on low heat)
In a s/ bowl, add hot water to dried fish (soak for 15 mins)
Pick bones apart
Add to beans and stir
Let cook for another half hour
At this point, it should be very soft and mushy (you should still see some whole beans though, if not you can mash to get it 'mushier')
There will be some oil floating on the top, simply mix together

Turn off heat
Let stand 5 mins before serving


To make regular beans:

Add picked beans to boiling water
Slice onions and garlic into beans
Let cook for at at least an hour on medium heat
Once it has reached your desired softness, reduce heat to low
Add palm oil
Add seasonings (add dried red pepper as well)
Add shawa (dried fish enhances the flavor...optional)
Mix together thoroughly
Let cook another 15 mins
Turn off heat
Let stand 5 mins before serving

Beans are best eaten with plantain, IMO. It can also be eaten with rice or with garri (dried cassava) sprinkled over the top. My cousins did teach me to eat beans with granulated sugar sprinkled over the top, gross but yummy!

Enjoy...