June 30, 2010 | 39 Comments
Akara is a Nigerian snack that is made from ground beans, mixed with seasonings into a batter and deep fried. It’s similar to Ojojo and Mosa. You can either make akara using actual beans (black eyed peas) or bean flour. For this recipe, I’ll be using bean flour.
As much as I like to cook from scratch and use fresh ingredients, I also like reasonable short-cuts that don’t take me too much out of my comfort zone. Bean flour would fall into that category for me. It smells and tastes just like beans and I’m yet to detect a difference taste wise. (I also used bean flour to make moi moi). For directions & more, keep reading!
January 13, 2010 | 32 Comments
Moi-Moi (pronounced moy-moy) is yet another Nigerian dish that is typically made from beans, which is soaked, washed, blended with onions and peppers. The name has different variations from Moi Moi to Moyin-Moyin to Moin-Moin and they’re all pronounced the same way.
Traditionally, not only is it blended, it is also steamed in leaves akin to banana leaves. This is truly the best way to cook moi moi, but once you leave home, it’s usually harder to come by the leaves. I’ll try to search for the leaves (they’re called ‘Ewe’ in Yoruba) and do it the more traditional way so you can see why the leaves are better. Since it’s steamed, the moi moi molds to the shape of the folded leaf and lends some flavor to it, mmm, so beautiful to look at and eat! For directions & more, keep reading!
