How to Cook Beans Porridge

Beans known as Ewa to the Yorubas are unpopular staple foods because it is associated with bloating, flatulence and indigestion. Most people have one reason or the other why they do not eat beans. Yet, it is advisable to to have beans in the family menu especially when you have young children in the family.

How to Cook Beans Porridge

The cooking method detailed here will help eliminate the problems associated with beans. You can learn more about how you can prevent the problems associated with eating beans at: How to Reduce Beans Bloating.
Ingredients

•     3 cigar cups (approx. 750g) brown/black eyed beans
•     Red palm oil (enough to colour)
•     1 medium onion
•     Pepper & Salt (to taste)
•     1 big stock cube
•     500g Yam/Plantain/Sweet Potatoes/Baby Corn (Optional)

You can also add crayfish if you want but I prefer not to add it because it makes the beans have an over-seasoned taste.

Before you cook Beans Porridge

•     Soak the beans in cold water for 5 hours. Boil the beans for 5 minutes and discard the water. Wash the beans in cold water and set aside. This soaking and pre-cooking process will help reduce the gas inducing elements.
•     Chop the onions, grind the crayfish (if you are using it) and pepper.
•     If you will use yam/plantain/sweet potatoes, wash, peel and cut them into 1 inch cubes and set aside. If you will use baby corn, drain the preservation liquid, rinse and set aside.

Cooking Directions

•     Put the beans in a pot and pour water up to the level of the beans and start cooking.

        Note: If you have a pressure cooker, beans is one of the staple foods you will want to use it for. It reduces the cooking time considerably.

•     Cook till tender, adding more water from time to time, if necessary. Always keep the water at the same level as the beans so that when the beans is done, you will not have too much water in the porridge.
•     When the beans porridge is soft, add the onions, crayfish (if using it), pepper and seasoning.
•     Add the red palm oil, salt to taste and cook for more 5 minutes on medium heat.

        Note:To get the most out of beans, it is best to cook it with one of the following: sweet yam, ripe/unripe plantain, sweet potatoes or baby corn. If you will add any of these, this is when to do so. Then instead of cooking for 5 minutes, cook till the added yam / plantain / potatoes is done. The baby corn should be added when you turn off the heat in step 5.

•     Turn off the heat, add the baby corn (if you have chosen to use it), leave to stand for 5 minutes and turn the porridge with a wooden spoon.

The beans porridge is ready. If you cooked the beans porridge without any of the additions, serve with Fried Plantain, Fried Yam or fried sweet potatoes.

How to Bake Moi-Moi

By baking Nigerian Moi Moi in the oven, I get these cute cup-sized Moi Moi that kids love. They are also the perfect size for when you have guests.

How to Bake Nigerian Moi Moi in the Oven [Video]
Ingredients for Baked Nigerian Moi Moi

For 12 muffin cups of Moi Moi, you will need:

•     350g black eyed beans
•     1 habanero pepper
•     1 big red bell pepper
•     2 stock cubes
•     2 cooking spoons vegetable oil
•     1 tablespoon ground crayfish
•     1 teaspoon nutmeg
•     1 onion
•     Salt (to taste)
•     Warm water (for grinding and mixing)

Notes about the ingredients

1.     The red bell pepper is to add colour and a nice flavour to the baked Moi Moi. Use Tatashe if you are in Nigeria, if these two are not available to use, use tinned tomato puree. But use that sparingly else the Moi Moi will have a tangy tomato taste.
2.     You can also use beans flour to prepare this. See the procedure at: Cooking Nigerian Moi Moi with Beans Flour.
3.     When grinding the beans, use just enough water to help the blades of your blender rotate.
4.     For a delicious taste, use tasteless and odourless vegetable oils like the vegetable oils sold in Nigeria and sunflower oil. Do not use olive oil.

Tools and Equipment for Baked Nigerian Moi Moi

•     Oven
•     Muffin tray or any other container
•     Aluminium foil
•     Brush
•     Jug
•     Blender (if using beans seeds)

Notes about the tools

    You can use containers in different shapes and sizes to bake Moi Moi in the oven but bear in mind that if you use say a cake pan and fill it with Moi Moi mix, you will need to bake the Moi Moi for much longer than the 45 minutes I stated below.
    The 12-cup muffin tray takes about 600 mls of Moi Moi mix. See consistency in the video below.

Directions

    1.If you are using beans seeds, peel the beans, blend and mix the Nigerian Moi Moi as usual using the following procedures:
        How to Peel Beans with a Mortar
        How to Peel Beans with a Blender
        How to cook Nigerian Moi Moi with Beans Seeds
        Cook Nigerian Moi Moi with Beans Flour

1.     Set your oven to 200°C, 390F or Gas Mark 6 to preheat. Set it to bake that is, top and down heating.
2.     Rub vegetable oil in the muffin cups.
3.     Pour the Moi Moi mix into the muffin cups.
4.     Cover with aluminium foil and fold the foil into the sides of the muffin cup. This aluminium foil prevents the Moi Moi from drying up.
5.     Pour some water in the oven tray and place the muffin tray with the Moi Moi mix in the tray.
6.     Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes. Check it from time to time to ensure there is always water in the oven tray. If it looks like it is drying up, top up the water.
7.     When done, leave to cool down completely and bring them out from the muffin cups.

Serve immediately or store in the freezer. Nigerian Moi Moi stores well in the freezer.

I love baking Nigerian Moi Moi in the oven especially these cute muffin cup sizes because my daughter loves it for breakfast on a school day.

I make several batches of this and store for her in the freezer. Watch the video below to see how I stack them in a container before freezing them. All I do is bring one out and leave on the kitchen counter to defrost (usually takes about 20 minutes), then I warm it up in the microwave oven on medium heat and it's ready for her to eat.

How to Cook Dan Wake

Dan Wake which literally means Son of Beans is a Northern Nigerian recipe. You can call Dan Wake Beans Dumplings in English because the preparation is similar.

How to Cook Dan Wake

Dan Wake on its own is pretty tasteless just like fufu meals and it relies on a sauce or side dish for its taste just like our fufu meals rely on Nigerian Soups for their tastes.

Usually Dan Wake is served with ground cayenne pepper (yaji), you can also use Suya Pepper, hardboiled eggs, sautéed vegetables: onions, cabbage, tomatoes; and you can even see some people crush stock cubes and sprinkle on top. Whatever floats your boat, the Dan Wake is game.

For me, I searched far and wide for a tasty sauce to enjoy Dan Wake with and one day I found it: 9jafoodie's Ultimate Nigerian Stir-fry is the ultimate partner for Dan Wake. It contains lots of vegetables, Suya pepper, different Nigerian meats etc. Go check it out!
Ingredients

The Dan Wake made with the following quantities of ingredients were enjoyed by 3 people.

•     2 small party cups beans flour
•     1 small party cup cassava flour
•     2 teaspoons baking soda or 2 teaspoons edible potash
•     2 tablespoons kuka powder
•     Beef stock

Serve Dan Wake with any or all of the following:

•     Ultimate Nigerian Stir-fry
•     Ground cayenne pepper (yaji)
•     Suya Pepper (Suya Spice)
•     Sautéed vegetables
•     Sliced Vegetables

•                   Onions
•                  Cabbage
•                  Tomatoes
•                  Cucumber

•     Stock Cubes
•     Hard boiled eggs

Notes about the ingredients

1.     Whatever quantity of Dan Wake you are making, use 2 parts of beans flour to 1 part of cassava flour so like I did above, I used 2 party cups of beans flour and 1 party cup of cassava flour.
2.     The job of the cassava flour is to bind the beans flour as it contains lots of starch. If you do not have cassava flour, use plain flour (all-purpose flour).
3.     Water is normally used to mix the Dan Wake but I prefer using beef stock because it gives it a better taste rather than the bland taste you get when you mix with water. Even though I use a very tasty sauce to eat Dan Wake, the meal tastes better when it is seasoned all the way through.
4.     The job of the edible potash is to make the Dan Wake balls fluffy. I used baking soda (bicarbonate of soda) in the video below, they do the same job.
5.     I get the beef stock when I prepare grilled meat. I boil the meat and store the water (stock) in the freezer for preparing these sort of meals. Also, since I normally eat Dan Wake with the Ultimate Nigerian Stir-fry, I will use some of the stock from boiling the meats for the stir-fry to mix the Dan Wake.
6.     Kuka Powder which is dried and ground baobab leaves is mucilaginous in nature like Ogbono, not as much as Ogbono though and its job is to help bind the Dan Wake even more.
7.     These days some people prepare Dan Wake with only all-purpose flour but the original traditional ingredient for Dan Wake beans flour, try both and see which you prefer.

Before you cook Dan Wake

There's not much pre-preparation going on with Dan Wake. The only thing is that if you are using edible potash, mix it with a small quantity of water and sieve. You will use only the liquid, no sediments. Set this liquid aside.

Cooking Directions

1.     Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl: beans flour, cassava flour, baking soda and kuka powder.
2. If you are using edible potash, add the solution and mix. If not, skip this step.
3. Start adding the beef stock bit by bit and mix the Dan Wake ingredients at the same time till you get a soft sticky dough (see video below). If your beef stock finishes and you still have not achieved a soft sticky dough, continue with warm water.
4. Once you are happy with the dough, set it aside.
5.  Pour some water in a pot and set on the stove to boil. The size of your pot and the quantity of water depends on the quantity of Dan Wake you are making. You want a situation where you can put all the molded dumplings in the water and still have lots of room for them to swim around.
6. Once the water boils, start moulding the Dan Wake dough with your fingertips. You pick up a small quantity of the dough (about the size of an adult fufu swallow) with your fingertips and mould into a rough shape (should be like a shapeless amoeba lol) and throw into the boiling water. Repeat till the dough is exhausted. You will notice that the lumps of Dan Wake jumps to the surface of the water as soon as it heats up.

    Notes:
    If you want the heart shaped Dan Wake that you can see in the photo above (perfect for St. Valentines btw *wink!), watch the video below to see how I made them with cookie cutters. You can make different shapes the same way.
If you used edible potash, the dan wake balls may not be quick to come to the surface when heated but do stir them so they do not stick to the bottom of the pot.
    7. Cover the pot and continue cooking on medium heat.
    8. After 10 minutes, stir and continue cooking. It should be done in 15 to 20 minutes on low to medium heat.

Serve with the aforementioned side dishes and vegetables.