D'Vynne Kitchen: Gbegiri

Gbegiri!!!

Gbegiri and Ewedu are like synonyms, you can't mention gbegiri with mentioning Ewedu. Gbegiri is simply soup made from "Beans" whilst Ewedu is soup made from "Cochorus leaves" also known as "Jute leaves". Getting too technical right?

Some people are of the opinion that this soup is very difficult to cook and you absolutely must of done something out of the ordinary to deserve the special treat of "Gbegiri". Well, I saw my grandma cooked this soup so many times growing up, and she cooked it with so much ease and speed. I made a mental note of how she cooks hers and compare her recipe to other I have seen and read. Then I realise how she managed to cook it with such speed and I discovered she cut out some of the steps I have seen and read in other recipes. So, the reason why it was so easy for my grandma was that she cut out all the unnecessary steps.

She always cooked it plain, that is it was just the "Gbegiri" without including any meat, chicken or fish added. I have always cooked it as such, as I find out that adding anything to it changes that taste (my grandma's gbfegiri's taste). Come to think about it, being a soup eaten mostly by the "Yorubas" there was no need to cook it with meat, chicken or fish, as most "Yoruba" homes would already have a pot of stew at home (this was and still the norm). There would be a pepper based stew at home at each point which would already have meat, chicken, fish or assorted. So we served the "Gbegiri with the stew" as you would any other meal like rice and any other swallow.

So, although some people are right to see cooking "Gbegiri" as an herculean task. However, I don't think it has to be.

This recipe is my grandma's recipe and I can say its probably the fastest recipe I have come across. I have tweeked this a bit by using modern day gadgets (food processor, nutri-bullet) to make it even faster to cook.

So shall I say grandma cheated or she was just been smart, well I'll leave you to decide. Lets begin

Ingredients

Beans (Washed and skin removed)
Palm Oil
Onions
Scotch Bonnet (Rodo)
Salt
Iru (Locust Beans)
Seasoning

After you have peeled all (well at least most) the skin off (I do have a video on how to use a blender or food processor to do this, but I have been unable to upload it, will try again later), place the peeled in a pot and cook until very soft.

Pour in a blender or food processor ( I have used a Nutri-Bullet for this). At thus stage add the pepper and onions and blend together until its as smooth as possible.

Mama would then sieve at this stage using a cloth sieve, remember Mama never used blender or food processor, she would cook until very soft and use "Ijabe"(small, short broom using for cooking).
So I skipped this bit, as i got a smooth enough paste.