Gbegiri soup is a very popular Nigerian beans soup. It’s made with black eyed or brown beans. Gbegiri soup has got to be one of the easiest, no fuss soups to make, if you’ve never attempted it, you’ll be shocked to find out just how easy it is. Gbegiri is best enjoyed with either Tuwo Shinkafa or Amala and Ewedu soup.
Let’s begin….
Ingredients:
2 Cups Black eyed or Brown Beans
3 Tablespoons Palm Oil
2 Tablespoons Crayfish Powder
1 Tablespoon Locust Beans (Iru)
1-2 Tablespoons Ground Dried pepper (Atagungun)
1 Knorr Cube
Salt to Taste
Preparation:
First, soak then peel your beans. You can peel it by hand or pulse in a jug blender.
Add the peeled beans into a pot, place on a hob on high heat. Add water and cook till very soft and mushy. Be careful not to add too much water, You can start with 2 cups and add as you go, if necessary. Do not add salt.
When it’s soft…..Use an Ijabe (Ewedu broom) to mash up the beans or a whisk. Save time and energy by blending till smooth in your jug blender. If you’re using a blender, be sure to wait till the beans has cooled down a bit before blending so you don’t risk damaging your blender. Add water to the beans before blending, not too much though, say half a cup.
If you used an Ijabe to mash the beans, you’ll need to pass the the paste through a sieve to remove clumps and get a really smooth consistency. If your blender is very powerful, you wouldn’t need to do this. As you can see, mine was blended smoothly, I’m only sieving to illustrate beetter…
Now, return the paste back into the pot and on low heat this time around. You might need to add a bit of water to the paste. Mine was really thick and had to water it down a bit. The consistency should be semi- fluid.Add the palm oil, Iru, crayfish powder, Knorr cube, ground pepper and salt to taste. Be careful not to add too much Palm oil, you only need a little to slightly alter the colour of the paste…
Cook for 5-7 minutes, stir occasionally to prevent burning…
It’s ready when the Gbegiri soup thickens a bit and the palm oil is well combined with the paste.
Serve with your favourite swallow…It’s Abula for me!
Tip: Gbegiri Soup thickens up really quickly, so do not be alarmed if yours does thicken up. Just add a bit of water and reheat and you’re good to go. I couldn’t take decent photos of it as it kept thickening up, the coldish weather didn’t help matters either.