Moin Moin

A fellow tweep (twitter friend) mentioned she was cooking moin moin today so that inspired me to do the same :) The great thing about moin moin is it's quite a healthy Nigerian meal. Beans are high in protein and contain a moderate amount of carbohydrates :) Unlike akara, which is fried, moin moin is steamed and can be eaten on it's own as a snack or with vegetables and meat  or chicken.

Recipe was a modified version of this: Moin Moin Recipe to make it a little healthier:

• I used coconut oil instead of vegetable oil
• I replaced Maggi with Rock Salt and Herbs
• I used crushed chillis

Ingredients

• Brown Beans (~ 500-600g)
• 3 tablespoons of virgin coconut oil
• 4 tablespoons of ground crayfish
• Salt and Mixed Herbs
• 2 Red Onions
• 1 tablespoon crushed chillis
• 2 red bell peppers
• 3 eggs (optional)
• 2 tins of sardines/mackerel in spring water or brine (optional)

Moin Moin

• Soak the beans in water for 20 minutes. Now this is the most annoying part: You have to rub the beans between your hands to get the skin off, I did this while watching X Factor so it didn't feel as bad.
• Leave to soak for another 2 hours to soften the beans:
  
  
• Boil 3 eggs, peel and slice. 
• Peel and chop the onions and chop the bell peppers. Add to the bowl of beans, also add chillis and crayfish.
• Fill your blender halfway with the mix. Add a little water and blend, note that if you don't have a strong blender, this will take forever.
• Pour the mix into a bowl and repeat this process till it's all blended.
• Now add the mix back to the blender (still filling it halfway) and add 2ce blended mix into another bowl. Repeat till you've 're-blended' it all.
• I repeated this process one more time and this was the result:
  
  
  
• Melt the coconut oil and add to the mixture. Also add your salt and herbs.
• I used aluminium foil, check out this easy tutorial to make the aluminium cases: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVdFyxK8Qd4
• Fill each container halfway with the mixture and as much or as little of the sliced eggs (1-2 in my case) and sardines. Seal. Continue till the mixture is used up.
• If you own a steamer, use this instead. My home-made steamer: Add some water to a pot (I added 2 cups) and I used a pot stand (similar to the image below but minus the wheels:
  
  
  I inserted it into the pot of water and boiled the water
• I placed the moin moin (bags) onto the pot stand, covered the pot and cooked on medium heat for 1 hour. I made sure I checked the level of the water every 15 minutes and refilled as required.