MoiMoi With Unpeeled Beans

Moinmoin

Truth be told, the first time I tried moimoi with unpeeled beans  I was still in primary school, my aunty had visited us and made some. I will say it was extremely obvious the beans wasn’t peeled as the texture of the moimoi was very coarse, however the resulting moimoi was extremely more filling than usual

Fast forward to two years ago when I made some moi moi using quinoa , I toyed with the idea of perfecting my aunty’s recipe but I did not. In 2014, I finally did try it but I wasn’t very thrilled with the end result. I made a critical mistake, I used black eyed beans which left dark spots in the moi moi. Although extremely delicious and very filling, I knew I could do better.

2014 attempt using Black eyed beans

This attempt was perfect. I took lessons from my aunty’s creation and leveraged my mistake from last year. I promise you, no one will know you did not peel the skin off the beans. You will also find this moimoi to be extremely filling, this is because we didn’t get rid of the fiber by taking off the skin.

Ingredients:

• Red beans – 2 cups
• Medium onion – 1/2 
  (chopped)
• Red bell pepper (Tatashe) –  1 (chopped)
• Scotch bonnet pepper (ata Rodo) –  1
• Eggs – 4  (boil, peel & slice 2)
• Ground crayfish – 1 Tablespoon
• Palm oil- 2-3 Tablespoons
• Bouillon cube (Maggi) – 1-2 cubes
• Salt (to taste)

Other : Aluminum loaf or muffin pan for steaming, aluminum foil

Directions

• Covere beans with generous amount of water and leave to soak overnight

• Combine beans, peppers, onion and and 1.5 cups water in a blender, blend to a smooth
 batter. Leave batter to rest for  about 5 minutes and blend again

• Pour batter into a large bowl, crack in raw eggs. Set aside
• Dissolve salt, palm oil, crayfish and maggi in 2 tablespoons of boiling water, set aside to cool. once cooled, add to batter
• With a turning pin (omo orogun) or electric mixer- Mix the batter thoroughly (this is to incorporate air into the batter and fluff the resulting moi moi).  mix for about 5 -10 minutes . Taste and adjust for seasoning

• Add 4 cups water to a large pot, set on high heat and bring to a boil

• Oil the pan (cupcake pan in this case). portion moi moi batter into pan and top with slices of boiled eggs . Cover the loaf pan tightly with some aluminum foil

• Place the batter filled loaf pan in the pot of water ( it shouldn’t be covered in water), place a tight lid over the pot and reduce the heat to medium. Steam for 45-60 minutes (alternatively, steam for 45 minutes in an electric steamer)

Enjoy moi moi with a side of garri, pap, custard or bread

Recipe note:

• Make use of Red beans, Black eyed beans will leave black spots in the moi moi
• It is important that you rest the batter after the first blend, this enables the beans to absorb more water and fluff up during cooking
• I highly recommend that you soak the beans overnight
• feel free to play up the profile of the moi moi by adding in other spices. Ginger, thyme and chipotle pepper all work great in moi moi
• When steaming in a pot, the wider the better. you never want the steaming utensil covered in water. If the water starts to dry up during steaming, simply add in more water
• You can choose to wrap the moi moi in leaves (Ewe Eran) or banana leaves  if you have access