Awara is the Hausa name for Nigerian tofu: soy milk curdled, pressed into blocks, then usually cut up and fried until golden. In English, awara is tofu, also called soybean curd or soy cheese. It's a popular snack across northern Nigeria, served hot with pepper, and Yoruba speakers often call it beske.
Buy it from a street seller in northern Nigeria and you'll usually get it hot, with ground pepper and maybe some sliced cabbage. Most people buy it ready-made, though it can be set at home with lime juice, or even with the sour water from fermenting maize for pap.
What is awara in English?
Awara in English is tofu. A 2025 Nigerian study in Frontiers in Nutrition puts it simply: in Nigeria, Tofu is known as awara, beske, wara soya, and soya cheese. The general English names it gives are bean curd, soybean curd and soy cheese. The News Agency of Nigeria describes awara as the Hausa version of Tofu, sold in block form and eaten as a snack, and calls it a common delicacy in the northern region.
Among Yoruba speakers the same food is often called beske. Wikipedia describes beske as a soybean curd commonly consumed in Nigeria, particularly among the Yoruba people, and notes that some call it awara.
So is awara just tofu? The curd is the same. What makes it awara is what happens next: it's seasoned and fried until it has a firm, golden crust, and that's the version most Nigerians picture when they hear the word.
What is awara made of?
Awara is made of three things: soybeans, water and a coagulant, the ingredient that makes soy milk curdle. Salt, pepper and onions go in for flavour, and oil for frying.
Soybeans aren't native to West Africa. The Nigerian Export Promotion Council says soyabeans were introduced to Nigeria in 1908, with the first export in 1947. Farming is now spread across the north and the middle belt.
How awara is made
The beans are soaked, ground and strained into soy milk, then the milk is boiled and set with something sour, pressed into a block and fried. It takes hours, which is why most people buy it. For quantities and timings, follow our how to make awara recipe.
How to make awara with pap water, lime or alum
Nigerian cooks set awara with whatever sour or mineral liquid they have. The 2025 study tested four: vinegar, lime juice, alum solution, and steeped ogi water. Another Nigerian study tried moringa seed extract, tamarind seed extract, lime juice and alum. Our own recipe adds magnesium chloride, apple cider vinegar, Epsom salt and calcium sulphate as options.
Each one changes the result a little. In the 2025 study, the awara set with steeped ogi water had the most protein, the alum-set awara had the most sodium, and the vinegar-set awara had the most calcium, magnesium and zinc. With lime juice, vinegar and ogi water, it's the acid that does the work; alum and the mineral salts in our recipe set the curd a different way. The ogi water they used had a pH of 3.8, and it set the soy milk.
Ogi (Nigerian pap) and its sour water
Steeped ogi water is the sour liquid that sits on top of fermenting maize when you make pap. In the study, it was poured off into a clean bowl and kept for three days before use. The researchers used 1,500 ml of it for every 3,000 ml of soy milk, far more than the lime juice or vinegar. That's the researchers' lab ratio, not a tested AFN method. Steeped ogi water comes from soaking and fermenting the maize yourself; our ogi (Nigerian pap) recipe starts from ready-made paste, so it won't give you any.
How awara is eaten
Awara is eaten hot. A seller who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria in 2024 said it's traditionally served with ground pepper or sliced fresh pepper, cabbage, and cucumber. It can also be eaten with pap or kunu. The seller added that fried awara has a meat-like texture and works in soups and stews, and that more customers were buying it as a meat substitute as meat prices rose.
Because making it takes hours, most people in the north buy it ready-made from street sellers. At home, try it with kunu, such as our tigernut drink (kunun aya), or toss fried cubes into a pepper sauce with onions.
Awara and wara are not the same
The names are close, and that causes plenty of confusion. Awara is made from soy milk. Wara is a soft cheese made from cow's milk, known across West Africa by names that include wagashi and warankasi. A 2025 review found that West African soft cheese is mainly produced by Fulani women, and that the Sodom apple plant, Calotropis procera, is the most common thing used to curdle it, so the method is close but the milk is completely different.
Awara nutrition
Awara is a good plant source of protein. The 2025 study measured awara made with four coagulants. The paper doesn't say whether the figures are per 100 g as eaten, but the moisture levels suggest fresh pressed curd before frying.
| Coagulant | Moisture | Protein | Fat | Calcium (mg per 100 g) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steeped ogi water | 47.1% | 25.9% | 5.74% | 112.5 |
| Lime juice | 48.3% | 23.4% | 5.92% | 102.1 |
| Alum solution | 49.5% | 21.5% | 5.43% | 94.3 |
| Vinegar | 45.8% | 18.7% | 6.03% | 120.6 |
Source: Awoyale and colleagues, 2025. Frying adds oil, so fried awara carries more fat than these numbers show.
How to store awara
Awara is best eaten within 24 hours of making it. It'll keep a few days in the fridge, covered in water in a sealed container, but the flavour drops. For a firmer, meatier texture, freeze the pressed block in water and thaw it before you cook it.
Awara questions
What is awara in English?
Awara is tofu, also called soybean curd or soy cheese. The word is Hausa, and Yoruba speakers often call it beske.
What is awara made of?
Soybeans, water and a coagulant such as lime juice, vinegar, alum or the sour water from pap. It's then seasoned and usually fried.
How do you make awara with pap water?
Researchers in one Nigerian study added steeped ogi water, the sour liquid from fermenting maize, to hot soy milk, and it set the curd with the most protein of the four they tried. AFN hasn't tested that method yet, so for a first batch, follow our lime juice recipe.
What is the difference between awara and wara?
Awara is made from soy milk. Wara is a soft cheese made from cow's milk, mainly by Fulani women.
