Eki’s Fabulous Moin Moin

It is slightly ironic that this dish is called “Moin Moin” which means “less less” in french, when all you want is more and more of it once you’ve had a sniff and a taste. A dish originally hailing from Nigeria, the name is actually pronounced “Muy Muy” like “very very” in spanish, so I guess it depends on your interpretation.

Days before leaving Brussels for our one year journey to the east, we had the wonderful opportunity to cook and eat this dish with the fabulous Eki. Fabulous is the best word I can think of to describe our lovely cosmopolitan friend. You know those people who walk into a room and immediately radiate warm positive energy? That is Eki. Her wide smile and infectious laughter cannot help but win you over. Ekaete – Eki’s full name (it means the mother of the father, in Ibibio, the name of their tribe in Nigeria), was born in Nigeria before moving to Cedar City Utah with her family at age one. At age six her family moved to Washington D.C where her parents both studied and worked to take care of their five children.

From age eight to sixteen, during the summer, Eki was shipped with her siblings to their native village of Ndiya to give their mother Martha a break and spend time with their grandmother. For kids who had grown up in America and a city where you had to be careful, the freedom of being in the safety of their village in Nigeria was exhilarating, not to mention all the crazy stories they could tell when they came back. “They would believe anything we said, we could lie through our teeth about giraffes in our backyard and no one would blink!” laughs Eki.  

Eki’s passion for life does not only shine through her cooking, but also translates into her unique personal style. After having lived in Prague for numerous years as a stylist, we are lucky enough that her travels finally brought her to Brussels four years ago, where she owns a gorgeous vintage clothing store in town called Phase II. Most second hand clothing shops require hours of patient sifting through before you find something you would like to take home. Not Eki’s place – you will be welcomed with open arms and white wine before wishing that you could take home every single item, if only they were all in your size.  

Telling stories over lunch, we discovered that the river region that Eki comes from is abundant in fish and so is the local diet, but the fish loving does not stop there – everyone is assigned a fish depending on their social role, so you know which son, daughter, uncle and aunty gets which type of fish. Am not sure which fish we would have gotten in the village, but for this delicious recipe, we were treated to halibut.

Let’s get back to Moin Moin. You know how chefs are always talking about layering flavours? Adding more heat, more acid, more sweetness to a dish to bring out complex tones to provoke your palate? This dish does that and more. It is so simple to make and yet the combination of spices, herbs and sweet coconut milk serves up a flavour bomb with every bite. The first taste actually reminded me of South East Asia, but the use of black eyed peas and tomato sauce to serve are also distinctly African. Moin Moin is a steamed savoury pudding held together by a puree of beans and coconut milk, then spiced with herbs and chillies into something divine. In Nigeria, they are often steamed in the corner of a plastic bag so that they create pretty cone shapes when unmoulded.

Here we have used Eki’s favourite black eyed peas as the base, but they can be substituted with any other nice beans – chickpeas, broad or butter beans. The great thing about this recipe is how forgiving it is, you could mix it up with different fillings and it would still turn out well, alternative versions are proposed below.

Eki’s mother Martha used to make this for them as children and this is her recipe.

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MOIN MOIN \ˌmuI muI\

Makes 6 portions

250 g black eyed peas (shelled)
400ml coconut milk
1 celery stalk
1 carrot
½ onion
1 clove garlic
1 knob of ginger
1 hot red chili (deseeded or not depending on your tolerance)
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp dry shrimp flakes (you can find them at any asian grocery store)
½ lime juiced and zested
1 bunch of coriander
salt & pepper 

The black eyed peas can be soaked whole then rubbed together to remove their skins or you could also buy them shelled already. (In Nigeria, clean beans are often brought to the market to be ground by someone) You can see the difference between the shelled and unshelled peas in the photo below.

Place everything in a blender and grind to a smooth paste. Pour mixture into silicone moulds – this makes it easier to remove afterwards, but the size is up to you. You can make it in little cupcake moulds as we did here or in a larger bread tin and then serve in slices.

Steam it for 30 – 40 minutes and check to see if it is set. We used Chinese bamboo steamers set over simmering water in a pot, though you could use whichever steaming equipment you have.

Let it cool down before trying to remove it from the moulds. This will help keep it in a pretty shape. You could also refrigerate it and eat it cold as a snack, though it is doubtful that there will be any left after the first round!

To Serve

It can be eaten with a nice tomato red pepper coulis and white fish for a complete meal (recipe below) or eaten plain.

In Nigeria the street food version is called Akara where balls of a slightly thicker mixture are deep fried and serve hot.

Different versions:

#1 If you want to make it really fancy, you could even create different portions in various colours by adding spinach and tomato to different blended mixes and steaming them in layers.

#2 You could also stuff them with smoked mackerel for example by filling half the mould with the mixture then putting in your filling before covering it with the rest of the mixture. It is so delicious on its own though, you don’t really need to enrich it with more flavours.  

For the Tomato Red Pepper Coulis

2 roasted red peppers with skin removed
1 tomato
½ onion
1 cup water
½ tsp dry thyme or some stalks of fresh thyme
a drizzle of olive oil

Purée everything in a blender and pour into a pot and reduce the sauce over a gentle heat. When the sauce is thick and sweet, add the marinated fish and cook gently until the fish is cooked through, but still delicate.  

For the Fish

1 Halibut fillet (we used a halibut fillet sliced into 2 inch pieces, but you can also replace with shrimps or other white fish)
½ lime, juiced
1 tsp salt & pepper
drizzle of olive oil

Marinate the fish pieces with the lime juice and salt & pepper, then add to the thickened sauce to cook through.

Serve the Moin Moin with the sauce and enjoy!