We all love Moi Moi, Akara, Gbegiri Soup and other Nigerian delicacies where we need to peel the beans. But nobody enjoys peeling beans because it is one of those tedious Nigerian cooking tasks.
If you have a blender and NEPA is on your side :D, your days of shying away from cooking Moi Moi ends here.
Directions
- Soak the beans till you can easily rub the skin off the beans seeds with your finger tips. For some types of beans (eg oloyin or brown beans), you only need to soak for 5 minutes. But for some tough black eyed beans, one hour may not even be enough. Check the beans from time to time and decide when to take it off the water.
- Put a small amount of the soaked beans into your blender.
- Pour water to twice the level of the beans.
- Press the Pulse/Turbo button on your blender for 1 second, let go; press it again and let go. Do this 5 times and that is enough to peel the beans without blending them.
If your blender does not have a pulse/turbo button, switch to Speed 1 for 1 second, turn it off; Speed 1, OFF and so on 5 times. - Pour into a big bowl.
- Repeat this for the remaining soaked beans.
- Decant the peeled beans into another bowl via a sieve. As the water goes into the second bowl, shake the bowl containing the peeled beans from side to side so that it is mostly the skin that goes into the second bowl.
- Repeat Step 7 till all the coat is removed. If there are any stubborn seeds that were not peeled, rub them with your fingers to peel them.
Watch the video below to see how I did it. What’s your favourite way of peeling beans?
Wow! Dis is interesting. I'm gonna try it ∂ next tym I wl cook moi moi, luks lyk itz much easier.
It is indeed!
This is very easy and fast. Thanks for showing us the easy way out.
You’re welcome Pat. 🙂
Peeling beans naturally is fun for me
Shaibu really?
Yay! Pls what method do you use Talatu?
Definitely much easier Ebere. :))
This is a very easy way of peeling beans thank you for telling us the easy way out
I am just passing it on. I was using a very tedious method lol
Hi I love your blog,please can you do a post on how to make full english breakfast,actually i really need to know how to make sausages in the oven,please thanks i will be happy if you do
Do you mean make sausages from scratch or just grill them in the oven?
I loooove moi moi and akara but the washing puts me off! Glad to have this tip from you.
Sting speaks so highly of you, that I want to learn a lot from you and change my ‘nitel’ skills …..ahahahha.
I appreciate your visits sistah.
Happy new year once again.
Aww Dawn! So glad to have you here! My dear the thought of peeling beans used to make my heart skip a bit but not anymore since I learnt this method.
Doc is always giving me acolades that are bigger that I am. :)) I’m just a regular ol’ wifey doing my stuff in the kitchen and learning more everyday. Abeg which one is Nitel skills?? 😀
thanks for the idea
You’re welcome Kunbi. 🙂
it quite interesting,will sure try it out though am kinda like the age long washing method.
O yes Onyi! We always stay with what we are comfortable with for as long as possible! I know how long it took me to try this after I heard about it. I was too confortable with my mortar and pestle method. 🙂
very interesting but am kinda stuck wt the age long washing method. Will sure try it out.
O yes Onyinye! We always stay with what we are comfortable with for as long as possible! I know how long it took me to try this after I heard about it. I was too confortable with my mortar and pestle method. 🙂
If there is no NEPA to deploy your blender and you have a mortar, you can apply the steps. Soak the beans with water in the mortar for about 45minutes then used your pestle to gently grind the beans in a rotational manner. Please note; do not pound, just grind. Do it for 15mins, pour into a big bowl, fill it with water, the skin will rise, sieve, repeat 2-3times and you have your clean beans for moi-moi or akara.
Oh peeling beans with mortar and pestle was my comfy method before I learnt this one.
Interesting
i will try it tnx
Good to know
Thanks for sharing V.
Have I been living under a rock? This is Amazing. I can’t believe no one told me that this blog/site existed. Wow!. My cooking has just been made easier and more fun. Whoop!! Thank you Aunty Flo, you have a way of making it sooo easy and relatable.. I can’t wait to use your procedures as a guide when cooking. Well done ma.
lol @ living under a rock! No time is late dear. 🙂 I’m glad you find the steps easy to follow. Glad to have you here Eguonor!
This is gud,will definitely try it.i just stumbled on to this site,and i am enjoying every moment.
u can as well join so u think u can cook? its also a good site
Thanks Flo, for this tip. As if to say you knew how I so hate to peel beans with hand, and my longa throat for moi-moi and akara won’t keep me away. Now I can try your super lazy method.
(BTW, this is Stella of stellaanokam.com – I have a new Naija blog).
Wow Stella! This is the surprise of the year. Where have you been? Or should it be where have I been? 😀 Glad to see you here. And congratulations on your new blog. Will surely check it out.
Please don’t feel guilty about using the lazy method lol.
Thanks a lots.
u save me. thanks
I learned how to make moi moi years ago, the old way of rubbing the skins off of soaked Black Eye Peas, gave my hands a fit. I heard about this water, processor way of removing skins but didn’t know the ratio of water to beans/peas, thanks so much, will be using this method because I luv moi moi. Now I need a recipe for the bowls of whatever I’m seeing being eaten in African movies that’s eaten by dipping cassava dumplins in , I just want to jump right in and dip me a duplin.
Thanks in advance
lol @ bowls of whatever you see being eaten in African movies! Ronnie you are too funny! Visit the soup recipes page for what we eat the dumplings with. 🙂 And the fufu recipes page for the dumplings.
I’m glad that now your hands can take a break from rubbing the beans. That method is the most tedious of them all but some people still swear by it.
A warm welcome to you!
i will love this if it will work,thanks
It works Bola. If it doesn’t, I wouldn’t say it does. Did you watch the video?
Very educative
Good to know about this new n easy method,will try it out. Thanks Flo!
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! I love this woman already. How do I subscribe biko? Help. *covering face*
hehehe Love you too Nnenna! Click here to go to the subscription page. 🙂
I let my beans soak overnight and skin came off easy enough. But they are not rising. What do you do if the skin does not rise?
Adebola I am not sure I understand the question. Do you mean the seeds are not rising? If yes, since the seeds have already been in water overnight, they will not rise again because they are now saturated with water.
Also, if you meant to ask why the skin is not baggy, it is also because the seeds are now saturated with water and they have risen to meet the skin so the skin will be snug on the seeds.
But if you soak for a short time, the skin will be baggy because the skin is not yet soaked with water.
To me using morter is easier and interesting.It is easier to peal and wash beans when u dont over soak it, soak beans for a period of 5min is much easir cos the beans doesn’t break thus making it very easy to was plus it keeps the taste and the textur intack.Try it and u will understand.
Mortar used to be my favourite too Nasira because with mortar, I am more in control. But the length of time you soak the beans depends on the type of beans you are using. I was in Nigeria recently and I put the brown oloyin beans in water and before I could get the sieve, the beans was ready to be peeled. I mean in less than 5 minutes. I just rubbed them mildly with my hands and the skin came off like magic. In fact using mortar for peeling that beans would have been disastrous as the seeds were already too soft LOL. But with black eyed beans that are more common outside Nigeria, the one I used in this video, 30 minutes of soaking is sometimes not enough, they will still be bone dry looking at you with their black eyes 😀 So the time varies greatly depending on the type of beans.
The same goes for when cooking the beans. The oloyin beans literally melts in the pot in less that 30 minutes while the black eyed beans needs to be cooked for at least 1 hour. To be honest, I do not know what the Nigerian farmers add to the soil when cultivating oloyin beans these days because I can’t remember them getting done that quickly. I was shocked at how quickly they cook and my sister-in-law was laughing at the surprised look on my face. 😀
This is so educative – thanx @ma’am Flo. Pls this oloyin beans is it the brown beans? And if u soak d brown beans for say 10mins and peel later in blender, will it be ok?
Tess dear, yes that’s that brown beans we have in Nigeria.
If the ones you have also soak in no time as the ones I talked about then 10 minutes is too much time. I soaked for 5 minutes and they were already too soft and the skin easily rubbed off by hand. If you want to use a blender for the same beans, I would say … just rinse the beans in water, no soaking required lol. Because when I say the beans was soft in no time, I literally mean no time. 😀
If they are too soft, the blades of your blender will crush the seeds during peeling and that’s not good.
Wow! Loving this.And to say i haven’t made moi moi in 2years due to laziness of beans washing is just a shame making. Definitely making moimoi this tomorrow. Thanks a whole lot for this great tips,wish i could say thank you a million times.
Chai Chai Chai! Ogochukwu biko “take run, take walk” and go and make that Moi Moi and send me a photo. Diaris fear of peeling Moi Moi ooo. 😉
But that fear stops here.
wot a easy life I wil try this method
Soaking the beans for 1hour reduces the rich flavour of my moimoi or akara.. Is Dia a way to use ds method wtout soaking the beans dt long?
The aim of soaking the beans is to remove the skin. If you are able to peel the beans 1 minute after soaking it in water, please do so, no need to wait for 1 hour. Like written in the article, with some beans, the skin comes off even after 5 minutes of soaking. The skin of the black eyed beans I buy where I live does not shift till at least 30 minutes.
Have been trying to purchase this book in Amazon but i can’t because they don’t put price on it and it’s not on ebay. Please do something. Very haste to get this book. Thanks
Oluwatoyin for Amazon USA, click the following link and select the one that is sold by All Nigerian Recipes USA with Fulfilment by Amazon: http://amzn.to/1MFS4cn
Wow!..so easy
Thanks for sharing ?
I love dis method
This is lovely and educative.
Though, am a man, but I cherish making my meals in d kitchen than going to canteens.
I love learning and making varieties of dishes that others can as well fall in love with
Thanks for the tips on peeling the bean skin with the blender. I just tried it and it worked.
Love your blog. Please can you help on how best someone who’s pregnant can cook moimoi and it’ll be done. Thanks
Seun I’m not sure I understand the question especially the reference to someone who is pregnant. To the best of my knowledge, everyone (including pregnant women) can use the recipes for Moi Moi on this website to cook Moi Moi with delicious and well-done results. Here they are:
1. How to Cook Nigerian Moi Moi with Beans Seeds.
2. How to Cook Nigerian Moi Moi with Beans Flour.
3. Baked Nigerian Moi Moi.
My sister, you are a genius!
Hello,
I read through your instructions on how to get the bean coat off the bean seed and it’s just as I do it except for the last bit where you said to soak the already coat less beans in water for three hours before blending. Pls explain the significance of this. Thanks.
Theodora it is to help soften it for my blender. The beans I buy here is quite tough. If you are grinding the beans with the heavy duty grinders in Nigerian markets or your blender can give you a smooth blend if you blend straight away then you do not need to soak. Also if you are using Nigerian brown beans which is soft, you do not need to soak it for 3 hours.
I just tried this and it was awesome. I soaked the beans for 5-10 minutes and they were already peeling when I rubbed my hands on them. Put them in the blender, pulsed five times and I didn’t even have to pick out any stubborn ones afterwards. Thank you.
How can I preserve peeled beans after blending till the following day without refrigerating
Mmh, keeping it outside the fridge after blending can be tricky. If you live in a very hot location, it may go off before the next morning. My recommendation is to peel it in the night, decant the skin then put in a bowl, pour cool water to cover the beans and keep in a cool place. It will still be good by the next morning. Then blend it in the morning.
Whoa! I never knew this was possible oh. Thanks very much