Frejon aka Coconut and Beans

The name Frejon was derived from the Portuguese word feijao, meaning beans, so you already have an idea of what Frejon dish might comprise. It is a coconut bean soup eaten especially during Holy Week. Growing up, Frejon was always eaten on Good Friday, which made Easter the season to look forward to. It is not jollof rice that you eat every weekend and certainly not a dish you find at parties, so eating Frejon every year on Good Friday was equivalent to getting presents on Christmas day. This dish is time consuming but well worth it.

Ingredients

2 lb ewa ibeji/adzuki beans

2 whole coconuts

 Sugar to taste

Method

1.  Wash beans clean.
2.  In a clean pot, add washed beans and add in an equal amount of water.
3.  Cook beans on low heat until very soft and mushy, then leave to cool.
4.  While the pot of beans is cooking, prepare your coconut milk by grating the flesh of the coconuts or pulsing it with water in a blender.
5.  Once grated/blended – sieve the milk from the flesh.
6.  Add in more water into the flesh of the coconut and continue to sieve – probably two to three more times.
7.  When the pot of beans is cooled, in small quantities add into a blender and blend till smooth. For every cup of beans, add in one cup of water.
8.  Repeat the previous step till all the beans are blended.
9.  Using a sieve, sift blended beans back into pot.
10. Add in coconut milk and cook on low heat until thickened. Do this for about two to three hours.
11. Add in sugar to taste.
12. Serve with seafood of choice.