
Adalu(Beans and Corn Pottage)
Lagos, Nigeria ·
Aperçu
Adalu is a simple, satisfying Yoruba one-pot meal made from cowpeas and fresh corn cooked together until both are tender, then seasoned with palm oil, peppers, crayfish, and onions. The name means mixture in Yoruba, and the combination of beans and corn creates a complete protein source that has nourished Yoruba communities for centuries. The dish is everyday home cooking at its most practical, ingredients that are readily available, inexpensive, filling, and nutritionally complete. Fresh corn on the cob gives Adalu a natural sweetness that dried or canned corn cannot replicate, and when the corn is in season, this is one of those dishes that needs nothing else alongside it.
Note de Patrimoine AFN
Adalu is rooted in the agricultural traditions of the Yoruba people of southwestern Nigeria, where cowpeas and maize have been cultivated together for generations. The combination of legumes and grains to create a complete protein is a nutritional strategy found across West African food cultures, and in Yoruba cooking, Adalu is the clearest expression of this principle.




I could not get fresh corn on the cob at the supermarket here so I used two bags of frozen sweet corn instead. Adding that splash of coconut oil right at the end gave it such a rich aroma, brought me straight back to Lagos. My husband and kids ate everything sha.