Moi Moi using beans flour

Moi moi is a very popular beans pudding in Nigeria, made mostly with skinned black-eyed peas (white beans) or brown beans which is in turn ground to a paste and steamed with other ingredients. Making moi moi using beans flour is not only easy and convenient but also tastes good.

It can be eaten on its own as a meal or served with a side of vegetable salad, pap and soaked garri or as an accompaniment to a variety of dishes e.g. rice or agidi, it can be made into a sandwich filling placed between 2 thick slices of bread. Always served alongside Nigerian Jollof at parties. Include moi moi in your Christmas menu.

Moi moi can be plain or dressed up with the addition of boiled egg, prawns, fish (eg. Tuna, mackerel), corned beef, dry fish, fried meat, minced meat, canned sardine, stew, chopped tomatoes and onions, coconut milk etc. There are some spices that go well with Moi moi, though adding them are optional. Spices like curry powder, nutmeg, ehuru

There is an ongoing debate about using fresh beans as against beans flour and in my opinion, it is a matter of preference. I enjoy the powdered beans moi moi so why stress myself skinning and grinding whole beans just for the sake of? What i normally do, because I don’t totally trust the commercially packaged beans flour, is I pay to get a large quantity of beans skinned for me, then i spread it out to dry, send it to the market to be ground into flour. This I store in an airtight container for up to a year without any problem. I might find a brand that I trust one of these days and that part of the hassle too will be over.

I should also make a point about soaking the powdered beans before mixing the moi moi batter. You do not need to soak it first before use. In fact, I have tried both methods in a blind tasting and the unsoaked beans powder won hands down.

Moi moi mix can be wrapped in Uma or banana leaves or aluminium foil envelopes, it can also be poured into heatproof disposable or non-disposable bowls, muffin, tart or souffle tins, or as a last resort, plastic bags. This pudding can be cooked both in the microwave and in the conventional oven.

To make moi moi using beans flour

2 cups beans flour
2-3 tatashe (fresh paprika pepper or 1 red bell pepper)
1 medium onions
1 scotch bonnet (fresh pepper)
2 tablespoons ground crayfish
seasoning cubes
salt
4 1/2 cups lukewarm water 
vegetable oil

Prepare Uma leaves or aluminium foil to be used in cooking moimoi, or grease tins, set aside.

Grind Tatashe, onions, scotch bonnet, ground crayfish and seasoning cubes in a blender.

In a clean bowl, mix beans flour with some warm water.

Add ground tatashe and onion mix, salt and lukewarm water.

Mix very well to eliminate lumps. Taste for salt and correct. Add vegetable oil or palm oil (if using palm oil, warm it up to make it lighter), stir well

Fill up the cooking containers, but not to the top because moimoi expands upon cooking so leave room for this expansion.

Meanwhile place a large pot over high heat with 1-inch of water, place a steamer rack in the pot, or put uma leaves stalks, plastic bags, etc. in the pot.

Bring the water to a full boil. Gently lower your well wrapped or bowls of moi moi mix.

Cover and cook till moi moi is cooked, when a skewer is inserted into the middle and it comes out dry without moi moi sticking on it or just a tiny smear of moi moi, about 45-50 minutes.

Cooking time can vary though, depending on the size of the cooking vessel, e.g small tart tins can take as little as 15 minutes to cook, while bowl can take whole 50 minutes.

You might need to top up the water in the pot from time to time.

When done leave to stand at least 5-10 minutes to firm up.

Moi moi freezes well, wrap tightly and place in the freezer. Reheat by placing on the steaming rack in a pot with some water in it. You can also warm it in the microwave oven, just make sure it warms right through to the middle.

Moi moi is normally served as a side or a meal on its own. Serve with jollof rice, palm oil jollof, fried plantain, Akamu/ogi, soaked garri, Agidi/eko, custard, oatmeal etc