Moimoi is a rich steamed beans cake eaten all over Nigeria and beyond. It is often served with ogi or custard, can be eaten with jolloff rice or on its own. It is truly a delicious combination with most meals. Rich in protein, it is the perfect weight loosing meal with good filling effect.

Also refereed to steamed beans pudding, or bean sponge cake, moimoi is made from soaked, peeled and blended black eyed beans. To this is added blended fresh pepper, onion, plus or minus tomatoes, and seasonings.

The beans is first soaked preferably overnight, the skin removed, and then blended.

These days, there is already prepared beans flour, meaning you do not have to spend so much time soaking your beans or blending it. This can be bought from most African food shops in Europe and America too.

Flaked fish, boiled eggs, prawns, crayfish, sardine in oil, or smoked fish could also be added to improve taste and richness.

The semi solid pudding formed is then scooped into a small cooking cup and brought to boil for about half an hour. Traditionally, moimoi is cooked wrapped in special moi moi leaves. Some have used a ordinary sandwich bags to cook their moi moi.

Moimoi preparation is largely the same all over Africa. This is a more or less Nigerian food, with Nigeria being the world’s largest consumers of black eye peas eaten in various preparations.


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Ingredients

2 cups of Black-eyed beans (peeled or not) or one cup full of beans flour

1 bulb of Onion

1 – 2 medium sized tomatoes - optional

1 or 2 fresh pepper (according to taste and tolerance of hot spices

1 tin of sardine in oil or tomatoes (usually containing 2 -3 fish) - optional

Boiled egg – Optional

1 – 2 tablespoonful of Grounded crayfish

1 teaspoonful of salt

3 tablespoonful of vegetable oil

2 – 4 medium freezer bag or sandwich bag or small aluminium cups

1 litre of water

Cooking time
40 minutes


Number of servings
2


Preparation

Into a medium size pot, put in the two cups of black eyed beans and pour in water to cover the beans. Soak overnight. (Just go and buy Bean flour - when this is not the 80's - haba)

In the morning, gently squeeze the beans as you wash it to remove the peelings. If you are using an already peeled bean, you obviously will just soak it overnight to make it soft and making cooking fast, without the need to peel.

Place the cleaned bean in a blender and add onion to taste. Half or a whole medium sized onion will be okay here. Also add chilli pepper or fresh pepper to taste. Add 1 – 2 medium sized tomato if desired. Blend this till mixture becomes a smooth paste or pudding.

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If you are using already prepared bean flour, you obviously will need to skip most of the steps above and just add your blended tomato, pepper, and onion to the flour and blend into a smooth paste.

Now place this bean paste or pudding into a container and add 3 – 4 teaspoonful of vegetable oil and stir. Chop your boiled egg into desired sizes and add it to this paste. If you have cooked shrimps or prawn or flaked fish or sardine, this is the time to add it to the paste. (You can also add corned beef)

Add about a cup of water to loosen the paste a bit. It must not be too light.

Scoop the paste or pudding into medium sized freezer bags or sandwich bags or aluminium cups, filling these not more than half their capacity to allow for space for the bean to expand once it is steamed.

Your moimoi is half ready.

Tie the mouth of the bags and place in a cooking pot with water already. Bring the pot and its content to boil under medium or full heat for about 30 minutes, with the pot covered.

The bean pudding becomes steamed and on cooking, looks like a baked cake which it is… except that it is made from beans, and it is steamed rather than baked in an oven.

Allow to cool for about 10 minutes before serving.

Serve your moimoi with rice, garri, or eat as a main meal on its own. (or with colslaw, potato salad)

Moimoi - Steamed Beans cake or Pudding also Called Moi Mio

Mmmm My mouth is watering. Going to make some this afternoon.

@ Miss Nellia... Dont have the recipe for Okra ogbono stew. Can give you Egusi stew recipe though. If you know how to make stew, then preparing okra ogbono should be quite simple, in the sense that all you would do is add maybe crayfish, smoked prawns, to the okra and ogbono. Also use palm oil as the tase is so much more nicer.

@ Shanya Bu. Moi Moi is nothing like Red Pea Soup... Unless you want to consider it before it's steamed! It's a paste that's steamed down and then it looks like...cant think of any Carib dish to compare. Anyway after it's steamed it turns solid so to speak. It's fantastic...I love it.

mmmhhhh lovely got me taste buds all juiced up...enough food joints especially in Deptford make some serious moi moi....

[quote=blessingfromgod;1449764] @ Miss Nellia... Dont have the recipe for Okra ogbono stew. Can give you Egusi stew recipe though. If you know how to make stew, then preparing okra ogbono should be quite simple, in the sense that all you would do is add maybe crayfish, smoked prawns, to the okra and ogbono. Also use palm oil as the tase is so much more nicer.


Yes please Blessings.... if you have the recipe for Egusi, that would be great, I'll make that with ground rice.

I already have palm oil and cray fish, so would just need the rest of the ingredients to make the Ogbono stew, then I'll give that a try also.

Thanks Blessing.