Right from my childhood, Moin Moin has been among my favorite foods, especially if it is cooked using 'leaves' or 'milk can'. There are different names attached to Moin Moin food in my side, it is based on the kind of tool used in preparing it, for instance, when Moin Moin is cooked with the help of leaves, it is called 'Moin Moin Elewe' and when it is cooked using 'milk can', it is called 'Moin Moin Alagolo' and when t is cooked with the help of nylon, it is called 'Moin Moin Olora'.
My grand mother of blessed memory used to cook Moin Moin using 'milk can' called 'Moin Moin Alagolo', it tastes well inside the little 'milk can', especially when you take it with hot pap which is rich in sugar for your breakfast, the excitement is incomparable.
While I prefer the first type called 'Moin Moin Elewe', that is, Moin Moin that is cooked with the help of leaves, it is not commonly cooked by individual but mostly found among the street traders, both Moin Moin Alagolo and Moin Moin Olora are usually cooked across various homes unlike the other type, i.e, Moin Moin Elewe, this may be attributed to the fact that the former type Moin Moin Elewe takes a lot of time and stress.
Below is a typical example of cooked Moin Moin Alagolo In remembrance of my grand mum who passed away a decade ago, in year 2010 precisely.
Many people that I have come across, especially ladies including my wife, most of them do not like eating beans, may be in its natural form and I lost interest in asking why they don't like eating beans after a while.
A whole week can pass in my own house without eating beans, though, she knew the benefits and despite my untiring effort to encourage her more on the benefits of eating beans like protein, folate, antioxidants, protection against heart attack, reduced risk of cancer, diabetes and glucose metabolism, and preventing fatty liver among other benefits, yet that did not increase her interest in taking beans, until I thought of finding a simple solution that will serve as a common ground for us both.
What is that solution?
Having considered the fact that I like beans not because of its natural outlook, but, because of the aforementioned benefits, also, my wife did not like eating beans not because of beans having rich nutrients and undisputed benefits as mentioned above but just because of its natural outlook, I guessed, so, turning beans into another product without loosing its rich contents and benefits, in fact with a lot of added nutrients became an option in my house and that is Moin Moin, other alternative we usually consider aside Moin-Moin is fried Bean cake it is called Akara in my side.
Ingredients For Make Moin Moin
1 or 2 cups of peeled beans (white or brown type will do the expected)
1/2 medium onion (halved)
Adequate quantity of red oil (palm oil)
Adequate quantity of blended tomato or Pepper
Small amount of ginger (peeled)
1 sprig green onion (this is optional though)
3 or 4 eggs (boiled or raw)
1 tablespoon butter
Adequate quantity of fish
1 or 2 cubes maggi
1/2 teaspoon pepper flakes
Adequate quantity of salt
Preparation
The first thing is to get the beans peeled by your hands, you then make sure you mix them appropriately with the avoidable ingredients among the aforementioned, depends on the quality and quantity you want and that may be determined by considering the number of people in your household, after that pour it into the little milk cans and put them all into a pot and turn your stove ON for a while till it get done.
I prefer eating Moin Moin Elewe because of its significant advantages over the other types, especially the additional nutrients that the leaves usually add to the Moin Moin. The name of the leaves is called Thaumatococcus daniellii, a plant species from Africa, it belongs to Plantae kingdom and family of Marantaceae. It is known for its natural source of thaumatin, a low calorie sweetener and flavour modifier.
Some old people around here also prefer Moin Moin elewe to other types and will not even try Moin Moin Olora i.e, Moin Moin that is cooked with the help of nylon, because they believed that nylon is made up of chemicals and it used to mixed and react with the Moin Moin when heated at higher temperature during the cooking.
Thanks for reading through and this is another weekend to try different kind of foods available within your reach, so taking Moin Moin with hot pap on Saturday or Sunday morning is not a bad idea at all, just ready to sleep immediately after your meal.
Time awaits no one, let's enjoy while we live.
Have a nice weekend!