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Classic African Vegetable Cowpeas Recipe

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Cowpea originated in Africa

The cowpea is used both as a vegetable and grain. Dried and fresh cowpeas are cooked together with other vegetables to make a thick soup, or ground into a meal or paste. Fresh leaves of the cowpea plant are often picked and eaten in the same way as spinach.

Cowpeas for sale in Ibadan Nigeria
Cowpeas for sale in Ibadan Nigeria

Classic African Vegetable Cowpeas Recipe

Explore and Understand Africa Through Her Food and Culture

Cowpeas are grown throughout the tropics and subtropics and has become a part of the diet of about 110 million people. West and Central Africa is the leading cowpea producing region in the world; this region produces 64 percent of the estimated 3 million tons of cowpeas produced annually. Nigeria is the world’s leading cowpea producing country, followeBrazil. Other cowpeas producing countries in Africa are South Africa, Senegal, Ghana, Maliand Burkina Faso. Ghana, Niger, and Cameroon. Cowpea is a higher drought-tolerant crop than many other crops. Make this classic Cowpea recipe using ingredients found in your local supermarket. 

Ingredients
2 cups frozen cowpeas or crowder peas
2 large red tomatoes diced
1 large red onion finely chopped
2 red bell pepper finely chopped
1 tablespoon palm oil
1 hot pepper chopped
2 large very ripe plantain

Directions
In a large pot, stir-fry onions, plantains, tomatoes, and peppers in palm oil, on low heat. After about five minutes, pour the beans into stir-fried ingredients. Stir simmer for another 5 minutes, on low heat. Serve over rice.

Cowpeas for sale in South Africa
Cowpeas for sale in South Africa

More about Cowpea recipes

In West Africa where cowpea is very popular and a staple food, utilisation in family menus has advanced. For instance, in Ghana it is used to fortify cassava, plantain, cereal-based meals and yoghurt or shea butter paste. In Nigeria, cowpea paste can be boiled or fried to produce a popular meal known as moinmoin that is served with rice during ceremonies, and akara served for breakfast. It is envisaged that cowpea meals can be served with various popular maize meals, custard, bread, pap and rice in South Africa.

Did you know?
English - crowder pea, bachapin bean, black-eye bean or pea, cowgram, southern pea
Afrikaans - akkerboon, swartbekboon, boontjie, koertjie, dopboontjie
Setswana - dinawa, nawa-ea-setswana
isiZulu - imbumba, indumba, isihlumaya
Scientific name - Vigna unguiculata

Cowpea flower buds
Cowpea flower buds

Chic African Culture The African Gourmet Logo
The African Gourmet explores how African food, history, and science intertwine. Here, a plant is a healer, a story is a map, and the kitchen is a laboratory. I’m Ivy — a writer raised by historians, now sharing Africa’s wisdom from the U.S. through cookbooks, cultural research, and storytelling. If you’re curious about where flavor meets memory, you belong here.

Recipes Explain Politics

When Rice Recipes Become Revolution

What if your grandmother's rice recipe could explain the Liberian Rice Riots of 1979?

"In Liberia, rice isn't just food—it's life, identity, and sovereignty. When the government proposed raising rice prices in 1979, they weren't just adjusting economics; they were threatening every grandmother's ability to feed her family according to traditions passed down for generations."

The riot that followed wasn't about politics—it was about the sacred right to cook your family's rice recipe.

The Deeper Recipe

  • Ingredients: Colonial trade patterns + Urbanization + Economic inequality
  • Preparation: Political disconnect from daily survival needs
  • Serving: 40+ deaths, regime destabilization, and a warning about ignoring cultural fundamentals

This is African Gourmet analysis: understanding how the food in grandmother's pot connects to the protests in the streets. The recipes we inherit carry not just flavor, but the entire history of our political and economic struggles.

Read the Rice Riots Analysis → Try Liberian Rice Bread Recipe
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African Gourmet FAQ

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