Easter is around the corner again and this food is very ideal for Good Friday!

Frejon  is the Portuguese word for beans {Feijão}.

It is a coconut bean soup that is usually eaten during Easter Holy Week by some  Christians, mostly Catholics Well, it is good for you to note that this cuts across the world.

Here in Nigeria, frejon is very common amongst South Western Yorubas.

Reports say those who returned to Nigeria from Brazil at the abolition of the slave trade and settled in what is known as the “Brazilian Quarters” in Lagos Island brought this meal along with them.

Apart from Nigeria, frejon is also popular in countries like Brazil, Benin Republic, Sierra leone and other West African countries.

…black beans can also be used to prepare frejon!

Owing to the fact that dairy foods and flesh meat (beef, pork, goat) are strictly forbidden on Good Friday, this dish is a suitable accompliment to non-dairy foods such as fried fish and peppered snail.

Frejon is eaten as a local puddings made of black beans. In days of yore, frejon was usually cooked slowly overnight over a wood or charcoal fire, and then mixed with coconut milk to form a thick, sweet, smooth pudding.

But today, thank God we have gas cookers, pressure cookers and stoves, all these make the cooking of frejon much easier.

The beans are boiled to form a thick soft paste and then blended with coconut milk.

Frejon is usually served with fish stew, peppered snail and Garri Ijebu but variations like pepper, crayfish, salt and tomatoes can be added to the mashed beans and coconut mixture.

If you love to sweeten your frejon, you can add sugar. You can eat your food warm, chilled or hot.

Recipe for 10 servings:

½ cup sugar

2 cups coconut milk

4 cups black eyed beans (cooked)

salt and seasoning to taste (optional)

2 teaspoons fresh ground pepper

Method:

• Examine the cooked beans and be sure it is very tender.

• Drain the water from the beans into the coconut milk.

• Add sugar and simmer for 50 minutes.

• Add the salt and seasoning to taste.

• Add pepper and continue to simmer until a semi-fluid consistency is formed.

• Remove from heat and serve with garri ijebu.

Garri Ijebu, a specially fried garri which is common amongst Yorubas; it has this tingy and sour taste, but well relished and enjoyed by all!