Moin moin facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Moin-Moin or Moi-Moi

Alternative names	Moyi-Moyi, Mai-Mai, Olele
Type	Pudding
Place of origin	Yoruba (Nigeria,Benin and Togo)
Region or state	Western
Main ingredients	Black-eyed beans or honey beans, onions, fresh ground peppers,oil

Nigerian fried rice served with grilled fish, mixed salad and moi moi

Moin-moin (also spelled moimoi) is a yummy bean pudding from Nigeria. It's made by steaming or boiling a mix of washed and peeled black-eyed beans. People often add onions and fresh red peppers, like bell peppers or chili.

This dish is packed with protein and is a very important food in Nigeria. It first came from the Yoruba tribe. In some places like Sierra Leone and Ghana, it's also called "alele" or "olele." A similar dish called Tubaani can be found in Northern Ghana.

Moin-moin is often eaten with other foods like Ogi (a type of porridge), garri (a cassava flour), or custard. It's also a popular side dish at Nigerian parties, served with Jollof rice and other tasty meals.

What Moin-Moin Is Made Of

To make Moin-moin, you need a few key ingredients:

• Black-eyed or brown beans
• Red bell peppers (called tatashe)
• Scotch bonnet pepper (also known as atarodo or fresh pepper)
• Cooking Vegetable oil
• Ground Crayfish (for flavor)
• Large Onions
• Seasoning cubes (like bouillon cubes)
• Water and salt

You can also add extra things to make it even better! Some people put in Eggs, cooked minced meat, bone marrow, Corned beef, or smoked or boiled fish. A little bit of concentrated tomato puree can be added for a nice color, but it's optional.

How to Prepare Moin-Moin

Making Moin-moin takes a few steps:

1. First, the beans are soaked in cold water until they become soft. This makes it easy to remove their thin outer skin.
2. Next, the peeled beans are ground or blended into a smooth paste.
3. Then, salt, seasoning cubes, dried crayfish, and vegetable oil are mixed in. You can also use palm oil for a different taste.
4. Many people like to add extra ingredients, called 'garnishes'. These can be sardines, corned beef, or sliced boiled eggs. When Moin-moin has many garnishes, people sometimes say it has "lives." For example, "Moin-Moin elemi meje" means Moin-Moin with seven different garnishes!

Moin-moin can be cooked in different shapes. Traditionally, it was poured into large "ewe eran" leaves (from the Thaumatococcus daniellii plant) or banana leaves. These leaves are folded into a cone shape. Today, people also use empty milk cans or tomato sauce cans to make cylindrical shapes.

Once the mixture is in its mold, it's placed in a large pot with a little water at the bottom. The water creates steam, which cooks the Moin-moin until it's ready to eat.

You can enjoy Moin-moin on its own as a snack, or with bread. It's also a great part of a meal with rice, or for breakfast or supper with ogi. You can even eat it with garri in the afternoon.

Making Moin-moin has become easier thanks to "beans flour." This is bean paste that has been dried and ground into a powder. With beans flour, you don't need to soak and peel the beans. You just mix the flour with water, add your seasonings, and cook it!

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  Sliced moin moin ready to eat

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  Ewe eran leaves (Thaumatococcus daniellii) used for cooking

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  A Moin-moin seller in Nigeria

See also

In Spanish: Moin moin (comida) para niños