Gbegiri soup is a western Nigerian delicacy, it is a Yoruba soup precisely that is cooked with beans, this soup is not ewedu. The sight of the soup looks like a soup or food made for an infant but is really delicious and looks it best when there is a mixture of ewedu Soup and meat from your Beef & Chicken Stew, you will decide what you want to use for your soup, just like most Yoruba people.
Sorry you may not know how to eat the Gbegiri soup you have to get acquainted to it and the ingredients used in cooking the soup. People who do not eat beans or do not eat beans regularly. The combination of the Gbegiri Soup, Ewedu Soup, and the stew will surely tease and challenge your tastebuds, do you want to try this. Then you have to get all the ingredients, make out time because cooking requires patience and love. Follow the instructions that will be explained and cook your gbegiri.
If you are Yoruba and after eating Gbegiri you didn’t enjoy the soup, its okay, it is not your local dish and that must have affected your judgment and taste buds. Most people dislike food that is not locally attached to them, they become really judgemental and selective. Its sometimes not nice because do not like people underrating their culture. Gbegiri is a delicious soup I believe your tribe has nothing on the soup, just follow the instructions acuurately and you are good to go.
These are the ingredients for cooking Gbegiri Soup
- 150g Black Eyed or Brown Beans
- 1 small smoked Mackerel/Titus
- 1 tablespoon ground crayfish
- 1 big stock cube
- 1 cooking spoon palm oil
- Pepper and salt (to taste)
What you should know before cooking Gbegiri Soup
Before cooking Gbegiri you must understand this.;
- Ensure you have some Beef & Chicken Stew because the beef for the Gbegiri Soup comes from this stew.
- Remove the beans coat and soak the beans for about 3 hours. This soaking makes the beans soft so that it cooks in less time. This way there will be no need to use potash to cook the beans. If you are using peeled and dried beans, you will need to soak them overnight.
- Prepare other ingredients: pound/blitz the pepper and grind the crayfish.
How to cook Gbegiri soup
- Put the peeled and soaked beans into a sizeable pot. Pour water to cover the beans and start cooking at medium heat.
- While the beans are cooking, prepare the Ewedu Soup which is used to eat the Gbegiri Soup.
- Cook the beans till they become so soft that it practically melts when you mash it with your fingers. This takes about 1 hour. You will need to top up the water from time to time but make sure the water is always at the same level as the beans. This ensures that you have just the right amount of water in the soup when the beans are done.
- When the beans are well done and soft, blend it. It is not advisable to blend hot food in blenders with plastic jugs so if your blender has a plastic jug, sieve the soft beans with a sieve that has a wire mesh.
- Pour the beans into a pot and set back on the stove, add the smoked fish, salt, pepper, crayfish, stock cube, and palm oil.
- Cover the pot and cook at low heat for about 5 minutes or till the oil blends with the rest of the ingredients. This is when the oil changes from red to yellow.
- Stir from time to time so it does not burn.
- That’s it! The Gbegiri Soup is done.
