Breakfast

Ekuru with Pepper Sauce

Name: Ekuru with Pepper Sauce
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 60 min
Total time: 220 min
Yield: 8 servings
Cuisine: Nigerian
Ingredients: 400 g dry black-eyed peas (sorted); 250 ml water (for blending beans; plus up to 50 ml if necessary); 35 g dried mild red peppers (dried bawa or tatashe); 5 g dried hot chillies (or less to taste); 500 ml boiling water (for soaking dried peppers; discard after soaking); 150 g onion (100 g roughly chopped, 50 g sliced); 90 ml red palm oil; 150 g smoked mackerel flesh (deboned; optional); 0.75 tsp fine salt (for the sauce only); 100 ml water (for the sauce, divided); 1 tsp neutral oil (for greasing steaming cups); 1.5 litres water (for steaming, with more boiling water available for top-ups)

Airy steamed bean cakes, deliberately plain, with a rich dried-pepper and smoked-fish sauce. Ekuru is part of Yoruba bean cookery, with a notable place in Igbomina food culture. Omolabake’s Ounje Aladun describes plain whipped bean paste, steamed and then crumbled into a pepper sauce. This separation of unseasoned bean cake and seasoned accompaniment distinguishes the version here from red-pepper moi moi; families may also serve eko or other sides. Cultural context: This plain, highly aerated bean preparation is served with its seasoning in a separate sauce. Names and accompaniments differ by community.

Ekuru bean pudding with fish sauce and a pale eko accompaniment

Ekuru.jpg by Adefanike, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Image details

None by this package; original downloaded file bytes preserved. Source-file adaptations, if any, are credited separately.

Full source and image record

40 minPreparation

60 minCooking

8Servings

Allow 120 additional minutes for resting / soaking. Total: 220 minutes.

What you’ll need

8 servings

Let’s get cooking

1
Soak beans in cool water for 15 minutes, rub off the skins, and rinse them away. Cover peeled beans with fresh water for 1 hour 45 minutes, then drain. Meanwhile, soak dried peppers in the 500 ml boiling water for at least 1 hour.
2
Blend beans with 250 ml fresh water until a thick paste forms; add up to 50 ml more only if the blender requires it. Add no onion, salt, or palm oil to this plain bean mixture.
3
Whisk the paste vigorously for 8–12 minutes with an electric mixer until markedly expanded and fluffy. It should hold soft mounds; hand beating takes longer.
4
Grease eight 350 ml heatproof cups. Divide the paste between them, leaving at least one-quarter empty for expansion, and cover each cup with foil.
5
Place cups on a steaming rack above simmering water in a covered pot. Steam for 45–60 minutes, topping up the water as needed. A skewer inserted in the centre should come out without raw paste.
6
For the sauce, drain the softened peppers and pulse with the chopped onion and 50 ml water. Warm palm oil without smoking it, soften sliced onion for 3 minutes, then add the pepper blend.
7
Fry on medium-low for 15–20 minutes, stirring, until thick and deep red. Add salt, optional smoked fish, and the remaining 50 ml water; simmer for 5–8 minutes.
8
Rest the cooked ekuru for 5 minutes. Turn out, break into pieces, and serve with the sauce so diners can crumble and mix their own portions.

A little kitchen wisdom

The 2-hour bean treatment is soaking, not fermentation. Aeration is essential; a thin, unwhipped batter produces a denser pudding. Reusable heatproof cups replace traditional leaves in this method. Timing: active preparation 40 min; cooking 60 min; additional passive time 120 min; conservative planning allowance 220 min. Some stages may overlap. For Recipe.ng display, prep_minutes includes the additional passive time; it is not all hands-on work. Recipe status: Research draft; not kitchen-tested. Allergens and checks: Fish if smoked mackerel is used

Recipe notes & sources

Research draft; not kitchen-tested

Also known as: Ofuloju, Ofunloju, Plain steamed bean pudding

This plain, highly aerated bean preparation is served with its seasoning in a separate sauce. Names and accompaniments differ by community.

Allergens: Fish if smoked mackerel is used

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Ekuru with Pepper Sauce

Ekuru.jpg by Adefanike, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Image details

None by this package; original downloaded file bytes preserved. Source-file adaptations, if any, are credited separately.

Full source and image record

40 minPreparation

60 minCooking

8Servings

Allow 120 additional minutes for resting / soaking. Total: 220 minutes.

What you’ll need

8 servings

Let’s get cooking

1
Soak beans in cool water for 15 minutes, rub off the skins, and rinse them away. Cover peeled beans with fresh water for 1 hour 45 minutes, then drain. Meanwhile, soak dried peppers in the 500 ml boiling water for at least 1 hour.
2
Blend beans with 250 ml fresh water until a thick paste forms; add up to 50 ml more only if the blender requires it. Add no onion, salt, or palm oil to this plain bean mixture.
3
Whisk the paste vigorously for 8–12 minutes with an electric mixer until markedly expanded and fluffy. It should hold soft mounds; hand beating takes longer.
4
Grease eight 350 ml heatproof cups. Divide the paste between them, leaving at least one-quarter empty for expansion, and cover each cup with foil.
5
Place cups on a steaming rack above simmering water in a covered pot. Steam for 45–60 minutes, topping up the water as needed. A skewer inserted in the centre should come out without raw paste.
6
For the sauce, drain the softened peppers and pulse with the chopped onion and 50 ml water. Warm palm oil without smoking it, soften sliced onion for 3 minutes, then add the pepper blend.
7
Fry on medium-low for 15–20 minutes, stirring, until thick and deep red. Add salt, optional smoked fish, and the remaining 50 ml water; simmer for 5–8 minutes.
8
Rest the cooked ekuru for 5 minutes. Turn out, break into pieces, and serve with the sauce so diners can crumble and mix their own portions.