Moin Moin / moi moi/mai mai is another traditional Nigerian popular food. It is made by blending peeled bean, adding fillings of choice and usually prepared by steaming. It can be feasted on at any time of the day – be it breakfast, lunch or dinner – enjoyed whether young or old.

Moin Moin is served in restaurants, weddings, parties, at receptions, and in many occasions. It pairs well with Pap, Jollof Rice, Fried Rice, Fried Plantain, Garri, Custard, Bread etc. It can also be enjoyed alone as a snack.

Initially, the most common method is to wrap this meal in leaves. But in the present day, there have been a lot of inventions like cooking with moi-moi bowls/containers and aluminium foil, nylons and even small plastic cups.

Read Also: HOW TO MAKE PERFECT OGI, AKAMU OR PAP

Moin Moin making is a long process and I will try to be as detailed as possible. Here are the Ingredients I used, feel free to either increase or reduce the quantity depending on the number of people you want to serve. These ingredients are for a family of six.

Ingredients

Brown beans (1 derica tin)

4Tatashe (red bell pepper)

3 Atarodo (scotch bonnet pepper)

2 cooking spoonful of vegetable oil

1 tablespoon of tomato puree (optional)

4 tablespoons of ground crayfish

2 large onions

Eggs or corned beef or smoked fish (any garnish of your choice)

3 stock cubes for seasoning (Maggi/Knorr cubes)

Water (as needed)

Thyme

Salt to taste

Uma leaves

Step by Step Guide for Making Moi Moi

First of all, put the beans in water and soak for 15-20 minutes. After that, wash the beans to remove the thin outer coat. Continue washing, squeezing and sieving till you are left with the white beans. Secondly, add the washed white beans, crayfish, chopped onions, atarado and tatashe. Please make sure to remove the tatashe and atarado seeds as they have a propensity to give meals a bitter taste. Put everything in a grinder and blend until the ingredients turn out very smooth. Afterwards, transfer the beans mixture into a wide bowl, add your dissolved seasoning stock cubes, salt, a pinch of thyme, vegetable oil and stir very well until the mixture is well incorporated. Then fold the uma leaves into a cone shape. Dish the Moi moi mix into the leaves or your preferred container; then add eggs (already cooked and cut in any shape of choice) together with smoked fish or corn beef (optional). Drop the wraps in the pot and add water simultaneously making sure it doesn’t top the first wrap. Then cover everything with uma leaves before covering the pots tightly and cook for about 30 to 50 minutes adding water at an interval to avoid burning. Lastly and most importantly is the waiting period. This period should be monitored closely because if you allow the water to dry, the wraps would burst when it is not well cooked. You can bring out one of the wraps after cooking for 30 minutes to check if it is done, if it is not done yet, check again after extra 20 minutes, insert a knife or toothpick inside it to check if the liquid is dried, ones it comes out dry it means moi moi is done. Take the pot off the heat.

Your moi moi is ready! Serve with Pap (Ogi/Akamu), rice or custard.