How to bake yummy, moist moin-moin

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I’ll walk you through the memory: One, you know in advance that you are going to eat moin-moin, you do not just wake up and make moin-moin. Two, moin-moin is a Saturday breakfast, paired with pap, sugar and some milk, if you are fancy. Three, moin-moin is something you prep from the night before and that process could be arduous. You begin by selecting the beans and getting rid of stones, dirt and odd bits. Then you wash the beans and this was the part I struggled with a lot! I never knew if just quickly washing it and draining or soaking the beans for a few minutes before peeling the skin was going to make it easier to peel. I struggled!After peeling the beans – an action which had my palms sore depending on how much moin-moin we were making – we’d then soak overnight so that it is soft in the morning for the next stage; grinding with a blender, or grinding stone, or taking it to a mill. I never liked making moin-moin.

Fast forward to years later as an adult and the introduction of beans powder to the Nigerian market, I was happy! Beans powder – the magic powder that makes moin-moin/akara fast and easy, without prior thought. It felt wonderful to be able to skip the arduous traditional process of the 80s and 90s and I embraced beans powder quickly.

Then I found that beans powder has its challenges. Some brands mix theirs with some flour and you never ever get the same authentic moin-moin taste, which is very disappointing. If you are lucky to find good beans powder, then making moin-moin will become a breeze for you. Using ramekins will make it easier. Using the oven makes moin-moin the easiest thing to prepare!

Ramekins are small ceramic bowls with lids or no lids that can be used for so many things including making moin-moin because they are durable. You can use your ramekin in the oven, microwave, dishwasher or freezer and they are fairly inexpensive. You can also use cupcake pans and bread tins to make oven baked moin-moin. I’ll show you how to make moin-moin stress free, in the oven, so that you have flavourful and moist moin-moin every time.

INGREDIENTS
1 Cup Beans Powder
1 Cup Hot Chicken/Beef Stock
2 Cups Hot Water
3 Tablespoons Ground Crayfish
1 Smoked Mackerel, Deboned
1/4 Cup Vegetable Oil
2 Tablespoons Curry Powder
1 Onion, Chopped/Pureed
1 Bell Pepper aka Tatashe, Blended
1 Habanero aka Rodo, Blended
1 Red Chilli aka Shombo, Blended
1 Teaspoon Paprika powder
2 Seasoning Cubes (Depending on how much you have in your stock)
2 Teaspoon Salt (Depending on how much you have in your stock)

PREPARATION
•   In a baking pan, pour enough water to fill it and place in the oven under the baking tray where the moin-moin will be. Pre heat your oven to 350 degrees.
•   Dissolve salt and seasoning cube in a small bowl with hot water.
•   Place beans flour, seasoning + salt mix, stock, water, crayfish, vegetable oil, onions, tatashe, rodo, shombo, paprika, and curry in a bowl, and whisk with a hand mixer or whisk to incorporate some air into the batter.
•   Spray ramekins with oil and pour in the beans mixture, add smoked mackerel that has been shredded and cover ramekins with aluminium foil if it has no lid.
•   Transfer to the oven and leave to cook for 45 minutes, checking often to see that the water underneath the moin-moin has not dried up. The water helps to steam the moin-moin so it does not dry out.
•   To test for doneness, insert a toothpick into the moin-moin, if it comes out sticky then it needs to cook some more.
•   When done, leave out to cool for 10 minutes then tip the ramekins over to take out the moin-moin or serve hot in the ramekin.

Written by: Yemisi Odusanya aka Sisi Yemmie is a Content Creator, Youtuber and the Blogger behind the Food and Lifestyle Blog SISIYEMMIE.COM

 

 

(Guardian)