I have been told not to judge the food by its appearance. I was standing outside a small Nigerian buka, looking at a plate someone had just placed in front of me. The amala was dark and soft, sitting in the middle of the plate like a smooth mound. Beside it was a bowl of brownish gbegiri, with green ewedu and a reddish stew completing the plate. I stared at it for a few seconds.
“This is everything?”
The woman serving me laughed. “This one is not everything. You have not even started.”
I picked up my spoon. I had eaten plenty of Nigerian food since arriving in the country, but this was different. I had seen amala before. I had heard people talk about it. But seeing pictures online was not the same as sitting in front of an actual plate in a busy Nigerian buka. People around me were eating as if this was the most ordinary thing in the world. Someone at the next table was already asking for more stew. Another customer was mixing the ewedu and gbegiri together.
I watched carefully.
“So I'm supposed to mix everything?”
The woman serving me laughed. “That’s how you like it. Nobody will beat you if you don’t.”
That made me laugh. I broke off a small piece of amala and dipped it into the gbegiri. Then I tasted it. I paused. Not because I hated it. Because I wasn't expecting the texture. The amala was soft and slightly stretchy. The gbegiri was smooth and rich, while the ewedu added another texture altogether. I took another bite. Then I added some stew. That was when things changed.“Oh.”
The woman behind the counter smiled. “Now you understand.”
What Is Amala and Gbegiri?
Amala and gbegiri are strongly associated with Yoruba food culture in southwestern Nigeria. Amala is a swallow made from flour, traditionally yam flour in the case of amala isu. It has a characteristic dark brown or brownish colour and a soft, smooth texture. Gbegiri is a bean soup traditionally made from beans. The beans are cooked until soft, blended or mashed, and cooked with seasonings to produce a smooth soup. The combination is often served with ewedu, a jute-leaf soup, and a peppery stew. And this is where I discovered something interesting. The plate wasn't really about eating four completely separate things.
The amala, gbegiri, ewedu and stew were bringing different textures and flavours together. The soft amala carried everything. The gbegiri brought the beans. The ewedu added its distinctive slippery texture. And the stew brought heat and depth.
How My Amala Was Prepared
After eating it, I wanted to know how that soft, stretchy mound on my plate was actually made. The basic ingredients are surprisingly simple.
Ingredients
- Yam flour
- Water
Step 1: Boil the water
Water is brought to a boil in a pot. Some cooks reserve part of the hot water before mixing because it makes it easier to adjust the consistency.
Step 2: Add the yam flour
The flour is gradually introduced while stirring continuously. The important thing here is avoiding large lumps.
Step 3: Stir vigorously
The mixture thickens quickly. A wooden spoon is used to work the flour into the water until the amala becomes smooth. If it becomes too thick, a little hot water can be added. If it is too loose, more flour may be needed.
Step 4: Cook
The amala is allowed to cook while being stirred and turned until it reaches the desired texture. It should be soft enough to scoop but firm enough to hold together.
Step 5: Serve
The finished amala is shaped into portions and served hot.
How to Make Gbegiri
This was the part I found most interesting. Gbegiri is traditionally prepared from beans, and there are different approaches to getting the beans smooth.
Ingredients
- Brown or black-eyed beans, depending on the version
- Water
- Palm oil
- Onion
- Pepper
- Seasoning
- Salt
Optional additions and seasoning can vary according to the cook.
Step 1: Prepare the beans
The beans are cleaned and cooked until they become very soft. This is important because the beans need to break down easily.
Step 2: Remove the skins if desired
Some traditional preparations involve removing the bean skins. The softened beans can then be mashed or blended until smooth.
Step 3: Cook the bean mixture
The smooth bean mixture goes back into the pot. Palm oil and the other seasonings are added.
Step 4: Simmer
The gbegiri is cooked until the ingredients come together and the soup reaches the desired consistency. It shouldn't be treated like a thick bean stew. Gbegiri is generally smooth and spoonable.
Then Comes the Ewedu
I initially thought the green soup was simply there to make the plate colourful. I was wrong. Ewedu is made from jute leaves, which are cooked and worked into a smooth, slippery soup.
Traditionally, the leaves may be mashed using an ijabe, a local broom-like utensil used for pounding and breaking down the leaves. The leaves are cooked with water and commonly seasoned with ingredients such as iru and salt, depending on the recipe and household. Once prepared, the ewedu is served alongside the amala and gbegiri.
The Peppery Stew That Brought Everything Together
The stew was the part I approached carefully. It was sitting beside everything else, bright reddish-orange and glossy from the oil. It looked good. It also smelled like trouble. I had already learned that Nigerian pepper was not something I should underestimate.
So I started with a little. The first thing I noticed was the heat. It came quickly, but it wasn't the only thing I could taste. There was the sweetness and acidity of the tomatoes, the flavour of the peppers and onions, and the richness from the oil.
I took another bite with the amala. Then another with some gbegiri. The stew seemed to pull everything together. The amount of heat can vary depending on how much hot pepper is used. The one I ate had enough pepper to make me notice it immediately, but it wasn't so overwhelmingly hot that I couldn't taste anything else. That balance surprised me. I had expected pepper. I hadn't expected so much flavour underneath it.
IngreIngredient
- Fresh tomatoes
- Red bell peppers
- Scotch bonnet peppers or another hot pepper
- Onions
- Vegetable oil or palm oil, depending on the version
- Stock or water
- Seasoning
- Salt
- Cooked meat or fish
The exact proportions can be changed depending on how much stew you're making and how spicy you want it.
Step 1: Prepare the peppers and tomatoes
The tomatoes, red bell peppers, hot peppers and some of the onions are washed and blended together. The amount of hot pepper is where you can control much of the heat. If you prefer a milder stew, use less. If you want the kind of heat that makes you reach for your water after every bite, add more.
Step 2: Reduce the blended mixture
The blended mixture is poured into a pot and allowed to cook. This helps remove some of the excess water before the stew is fried. It also means you don't have to spend forever frying a watery mixture in oil.
Step 3: Heat the oil
Oil is heated in another pot. Depending on the cook and the intended result, vegetable oil or palm oil can be used. Onions are added and allowed to cook until they soften and become fragrant.
Step 4: Add the pepper mixture
The reduced tomato and pepper mixture is added to the hot oil. This is where the stew really begins to develop. It needs time. The mixture is stirred and allowed to cook until the raw taste of the tomatoes and peppers disappears and the oil begins to separate from the sauce.
Step 5: Season it
Salt, seasoning and stock can be added according to taste. If meat or fish is being used, some of the cooking stock can also be added for extra flavour.
Step 6: Add the protein
Cooked meat, fish or another protein can be added to the stew. The choice depends on the meal and the cook. The protein preparation: If using meat, season it with onion, salt and seasoning, add a little water and cook until tender. The cooked meat can then be fried or grilled before adding it to the stew. For fish, season with onion, salt and seasoning and gently cook or fry until done. Reserve the meat or fish stock to add to the stew for extra flavour.
Step 7: Simmer
The stew is allowed to simmer until it reaches the desired thickness. You want it thick enough to sit nicely on the plate rather than run everywhere, but not so dry that there isn't enough sauce to mix with the amala and soups. And that's the stew I had been cautiously staring at earlier. By this point, I was no longer cautious.
How I Ate Amala, Gbegiri, Ewedu and Stew
I watched the people around me before deciding what to do. I tore off a small piece of amala with my fingers. I dipped it into the gbegiri. Then I picked up some ewedu and stew with it. And finally understood why the four components were served together. The trick wasn't simply the individual ingredients. It was the combination.The earthy bean flavour. The soft amala. The slippery ewedu. The heat from the stew. Every bite could be slightly different depending on how much of each component I picked up.
Sometimes I took more gbegiri.
Sometimes I wanted more ewedu.
And after discovering that I could handle the stew, I started adding more of that too. I understood why the people around me weren't treating any part of the plate as unnecessary. Everything had a job.
Variations I Discovered
One thing I quickly learned was that there isn't necessarily one universal recipe.
Amala Isu
This is the familiar dark amala made from yam flour.
Amala Lafun
Lafun is made from processed cassava and produces a lighter-coloured swallow.
Amala from fresh yam
Some preparations use processed yam rather than simply using commercially prepared yam flour.
The texture and preparation can differ.
Gbegiri variations
Some cooks make their gbegiri very smooth. Others leave it slightly thicker. Seasoning and the amount of palm oil can also vary.
Ewedu variations
The preparation of ewedu can also differ between cooks. Some people like it very smooth, while others prefer a little more texture. The seasonings can vary too.
Stew variations
The stew can be made hotter or milder depending on the amount and type of pepper used. Some versions are heavier on tomatoes. Others have more pepper. Some are prepared with meat, while others use fish or are served without a protein. Even the type of oil can change the character of the stew. And the accompaniments can change too.
One person might want more ewedu. Another might want the stew almost covering the entire plate.
Oliviaz's Take
I finished my first plate much faster than I expected. Then I looked at the empty plate. “I thought I was just coming to taste it.”
The woman serving me laughed. “You people always say that.”
I had arrived expecting to taste something unfamiliar. I left understanding something else. Some foods don't make sense when you separate their ingredients. The amala by itself wasn't the experience. Neither was the gbegiri. It was the way everything came together on the same plate. And, according to me, there was only one problem. I had promised myself I would try another Nigerian dish that evening. After that plate, I wasn't so sure I had room for it.
Oliviaz's Food Journal 🇳🇬
Country: Nigeria
Dish: Amala and Gbegiri
Cuisine: Yoruba cuisine
What I tried: Amala, gbegiri, ewedu and pepper stew
My verdict: I came to taste it. I stayed for the second plate.