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Dish

Miyan Wake

Also called Bean soup (Hausa), Wake soup

Soup

What it is

A northern bean soup in which cooked beans are the body of the dish, seasoned with dawadawa, ground pepper, onions and dried fish or meat, and loosened with stock rather than puréed smooth.

Key ingredients

  • Beans (wake)
  • Dawadawa
  • Ground pepper
  • Dried fish or meat
  • Onions
  • Groundnut oil
  • Salt

A list of what goes in, not a recipe. Quantities and method vary by household.

How it is eaten

Eaten with tuwo or rice, pinched or spooned with the beans still visible.

Cultural significance

Beans are a staple crop of the north and wake appears in many forms there, from this soup to the rice-and-beans dish waina and the bean flour cakes. Miyan wake is filling and cheap, which makes it common food during the farming season and in large households.

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