The English breakfast has quietly become a Nigerian weekend tradition. Not in every home, but in enough of them that nobody questions it anymore.

Eggs, beans, something fried, something warm — it is the kind of meal that justifies staying in bed until ten o'clock.

The version most Nigerian homes make is a loose interpretation. Which is the best kind. You do not need a full English to eat well on a Saturday morning. You need good ingredients and a hot pan.

This is a weekend breakfast built almost entirely from Mega products, because most of them are already sitting in the cupboard anyway.

What you need (serves 2)

• •1 tin Mega Baked Beans
• •1 tin Mega Sardines in tomato sauce (in place of sausages — bear with us)
• •4 eggs
• •2 medium tomatoes, halved
• •4 slices of bread, or 2 bread rolls
• •Butter
• •Salt, pepper, thyme
• •Optional: 1-2 plantains, sliced and fried

How to put it together:

Start with your beans. Empty the tin into a small pot over low heat. Add a small knob of butter, a pinch of thyme, and some black pepper. Stir occasionally and let it warm through slowly — about five to eight minutes. You are not boiling it, just making it properly hot and slightly glossy. Taste and add salt if needed, though the beans are usually seasoned enough.

While the beans warm, heat a pan over medium heat with a little oil. Add your tomato halves cut-side down and leave them alone. You want them to get some colour and soften — three to four minutes. Season with salt and pepper and remove. In the same pan, cook your sardines for two minutes on each side just to warm them through and get a little caramelisation on the outside. They do not need long. Remove and keep warm.

For the eggs — however you like them. Fried in butter with a little salt and pepper, the white fully set and the yolk still running, is the classic. If you are frying plantains, do those in a separate pan in vegetable oil until golden on both sides. Toast your bread. Butter it while it is still hot.

Plate it generously This is not a meal to be stingy with. Beans on one side, sardines next to the eggs, tomatoes and plantain filling the gaps. A little black pepper over the eggs at the end.

Why sardines instead of sausages

A good sardine in tomato sauce is already seasoned, already flavourful, and already cooked. It brings an umami depth to the plate that a cheap breakfast sausage rarely manages. If you have not tried it this way, you will be surprised. It has been working in Nigerian kitchens for years — the English breakfast just gave it a proper name.