Happy Monday to all my amazing readers! It’s another week and I wish every one of you a blessed week! I’m going to share with you today how to cook cornmeal (Egbo). Egbo or cornmeal is an African meal and it is very popular.
There’s no way you’re talking about Egbo and you’ll not mention beans. Egbo is served with beans and stew. You can use any protein of your choice. For the stew, I roasted the pepper, you don’t have to do that I like to roast my pepper if I’m not time crushed.
How to cook cornmeal(Egbo) is not difficult, all you need is crushed dried corn that’s shelled and make sure you remove any dirt if there is any, you don’t want to bite or crush a stone when you’re eating egbo. For the beans, you need to cook until it is soft and season with salt.
You might want to try;
How To make Tomato and Pepper Paste
- 2 Cups Dried Shelled Crushed Corn
- Beans
- 2 Red bell peppers
- 2 Habanero/Rodo (adjust to your preference)
- 2 Small Onions (divide)
- Palm oil
- Dried fish (or protein of your choice) (Clean and deboned)
- Seasoning powder/cube
- Salt to taste
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To make egbo, you'll need dried crushed corn that is shelled and picked all the dirt if there's any. Make sure you blow out all the shells.
To remove the shell; simply take the corn/maize to the commercial engine people (ero ata) and tell them it's for egbo, the mill/engine will be used to break the corn/maize you just need to blow the shell offf. If you have a big tray put small portion of the corn and move it and down then toss it up into the air then blow the shell, continue until you have all the shells out then use hand to pick the rest and any dirt stuff in it.
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Rinse and add enough water to cover the corn in a pot or pressure cooker pot. Add about 10-12 cups of water at first and cook until it is soft and pulpy. Check if it's soft enough or add more water and continue to cook until it is very soft. I used a pressure cooker to cut down the cooking time. You can use a pot but it takes a longer time to cook with a pot. Also, soaking the corn for some hours also help to cut the time down.
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Depending on how thick you want your egbo (cornmeal) cook it soft and pulpy, add more water you need to. Add salt to taste also you can mash it if desired.
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You can't talk about egbo and not talk about beans. Beans served with egbo must be cooked until it is soft. So, pick the beans, rinse then cover with water and cook for about 5 minutes, drain, then rinse, cover with another water and cook until it is soft then season with salt.
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Stew: Clean the pepper and onion and roughly blend the pepper with one onion, you can also roast the pepper and onion in the oven before blending. I roasted mine!
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Heat palm oil over medium-high heat and saute the remaining onion (chopped). Add the blended pepper and fry until the quantity reduced. Add the cleaned dried fish or whatever protein you're using, season with seasoning powder/cube and salt then continue to fry until the oil floats.
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Serve egbo, beans, and top with the stew. Enjoy!
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Thanks for this recipe, I too grew up in Nigeria and love Egbo and Beans. But living Overseas can be hard to get those nostalgic ingredients, so a great substitute for dried cornmeal, Hominy, in the Mexican isle for those in the USA, drain and cook with light chicken broth until tender, this also cut back the cooking time. Or use Goya dry corn meals.
Thank u aliya
You’re welcome, Queen!
Thanks
Thank you so much. Thumbs up sis, I’ve been searching for this. Thank you
You’re welcome.
Thanks for stopping by.
must i removed the shell before cooking egbo pls
Yes!
Hello,
Please I am in the USA, I loved “egbo” while I was in Nigeria. I have searched so much online to buy shelled crush corn but to no avail. Could you please help me? Can you make suggestions to any online store that can deliver it to me? Thank you
Hello Ifeoluwa,
I don’t know of any online store I can recommend, I got mine from Nigeria.
However, a lady once told me she used goya corn for it before.
Please, search for “goya corn” perhaps you might be lucky to get a good one.
Thanks so much Aliya,
I will try to order Goya corn and see if it works.
Thanks
You’re welcome!
Is it a normal engine or there is special engine to remove the shaft. Thks in anticipation
Hello Abidemi,
It is the normal commercial grinding machine, when you ask the commercial grinder they will be able to help.
thanks for this but pls will i use warm water to soak it if i want to soak it before cooking it thanks
You’re welcome, Damilola.
Coldwater is okay.
I’m trying this now, thanks
Hi Grace,
Okay, awaiting your feedback.
Thanks for stopping by.
OMG! 😍😍 This is a complete package!
Yeah!
Wow! I love egbo Ayo ewa… One of my favorites food growing up.
Same here! Thanks for stopping by.