Moi Moi (Nigerian Steamed Bean Pudding)
Peeled black-eyed beans blended with red pepper and hot chilli, enriched with oil and seasoning and steamed around boiled egg into a soft, savoury pudding.
Method
Soak the beans in cold water for . This loosens the skins so they come off easily.
Add in this stepDried black-eyed beans 160 g
Peel the beans: rub handfuls hard between your palms and the skins slip off. A faster way is to put the beans in a blender with just enough water to cover and pulse 3–4 times for 1–2 seconds (they must not be ground). Fill the bowl with water and stir: the skins float to the top, so pour them off. Repeat 3–4 times until the beans are almost all white, then drain. A few black eyes left behind are fine.
Put the eggs in a 14 cm pan, cover with cold water, and once it boils cook on medium heat for until hard. Cool them in cold water, peel and slice into 0.5 cm rounds.
Add in this stepEggs 1
medium heatPut the peeled beans, deseeded red pepper, scotch bonnet, onion and most of the water in a blender and blend for until completely smooth with no grit. If it feels sandy between your fingers, keep going: the smoother the batter, the softer the moi moi.
Add in this stepRed bell pepper 1Scotch bonnet chilli (or another hot chilli) ½Onion 70 gWater 154 ml
Pour into a large bowl, add most of the oil, the crayfish, the crumbled stock cube and the salt, and whisk hard for to beat in air. Add the remaining water a little at a time until the batter falls slowly from a spoon, like thick pancake batter. Too runny and it won't set; too thick and it turns dry.
Add in this stepVegetable oil (or palm oil) 2½ tbspGround dried crayfish (or ground dried shrimp) 2 tspChicken stock cube 1Salt ½ tspWater 66 ml
Brush heatproof containers (4 × 200 ml ramekins or small bowls) with the rest of the oil and fill them three-quarters full. Push the egg slices into the batter, then cover each tightly with foil so no steam drips in.
Add in this stepVegetable oil (or palm oil) ½ tbsp
Set a steamer rack in a 24 cm pot, add water to just below the rack and bring to the boil on high heat. Put in the containers, cover, turn down to medium heat and steam for , topping up with boiling water if it runs low. It's done when a skewer pushed into the centre comes out clean and the top feels firm and springy.
high heat→medium heatLeave for 5 minutes, run a knife around the edge and turn out onto a plate. Serve warm with jollof rice, pap (ogi) or bread.
Cook's tip
Palm oil gives the classic orange colour and nutty aroma. No crayfish? Ground dried shrimp or anchovy powder adds the same savoury depth. Leftovers keep 3 days in the fridge; reheat by steaming or in the microwave.
Cooking it at camp
Soak, peel and blend at home and carry the batter in a sealed tub in the cooler. At camp, steam it on a rack in a large pot over the stove. Steaming takes a while, so make sure you have plenty of fuel.