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Moi Moi Budget Style (Bean Pudding with Minimal

Budget Moi Moi is prepared with the minimum viable ingredient set — blended black-eyed peas, pepper, onion, crayfish and palm oil — but with no expensive fillings like boiled eggs or sardines. Despite its minimal ingredient list, a well-made Budget Moi Moi is genuinely delicious — the pure, clean flavour of the well-seasoned bean pudding without any distractions is itself deeply satisfying.

Moi Moi Budget Style (Bean Pudding with Minimal, Nigerian cooking

Ingredients

  • 3 big cups of black-eyed peas, soaked and peeled
  • 1 big onion
  • 2 Tatashe (red bell peppers)
  • 2 to 3 Atarodo (hot chilli peppers)
  • 2 cooking spoons of palm oil or vegetable oil
  • 2 big handfuls of ground dried crayfish
  • 2 seasoning cubes (Knorr), crushed
  • Salt to taste
  • Warm water as needed for blending
  • Banana leaves or aluminium foil cups for wrapping

Method

  1. 01

    Blending. Drain soaked, peeled beans. Blend with onion, Tatashe and Atarodo with minimal warm water until completely smooth and lump-free. The batter must be thick.

  2. 02

    Seasoning the Batter. Add palm oil, ground crayfish, crushed seasoning cubes and salt to the blended batter. Mix very thoroughly. Taste and adjust — the batter must be bold and well-seasoned since steaming mellows the flavours.

  3. 03

    Filling the Wrappers. Prepare banana leaf or foil wrappers. Ladle batter into each wrapper, two-thirds full. Seal.

  4. 04

    Steaming. Steam over boiling water in a covered pot for 45 to 60 minutes until firm throughout — a skewer inserted into the centre should come out clean.

  5. 05

    Cooling and Serving. Remove from pot. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before unwrapping. Serve warm.

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