NUTRITIOUS Nigerian Delicacies - Killing me softly! Moi-moi (Bean Pudding)
In Nigeria, Moi-moi is a special kind of steamed bean pudding. It is a local delicacy made from paste of ground beans (blackeye peas) oil, pepper, onions, and seasonings. It may also contain mystery ingredients like fish, crayfish, liver, eggs, etc, all folded into the paste before steaming. It is a light, easy to digest and complete meal with essential protein, minerals, and vitamins. Nutritionists recommended moi-moi to recuperating patients, children, and the elderly. Traditionally ‘leaf moi-moi’ is wrapped and steamed in jute leaves, which give a unique flavour to the cooked beans pudding. Jute leaves are sourced from the local markets and a cook requires some dexterity to successfully wrap the paste in those leaves. Today, modernity has obliterated the use of leaves to wrap moi-moi. They are now prepared in: easily sourced plastic containers or cellophane bags; that cook fast and need little skill to lock in the paste. Moi-moi in plastic wraps are now commonly served to consumers who are unaware of inherent dangers from ingesting chemicals released into foods by heated plastics. Plastics are by-products of Hydrocarbons which are components of petroleum products like crude-oil; other derivatives are petrol, diesel, and engine oil, etc. When plastics are heated, they release chemicals into the wrapped food that is being cooked like moi-moi. Plastics contain a chemical known as Bisphenol A aka BPA. When heated, its chemical composition becomes unstable and releases chemicals. The chemicals are dangerous to humans and cancerous to the body if ingested over a period of time, they also affect the unborn child when ingested during pregnancy. There are so many different types of plastics which all have different uses, but the plastic used to wrap your moimoi is not BPA-free. In advanced countries, BPA-free plastics are widely used to prevent the danger of cooking with ordinary plastics, but it does not come cheap and products sold in them are a bit more costly. So as a culinary precaution: • Do not buy moi-moi wrapped in plastic films. • Do not heat any food in a plastic container because Plastics have the same components even when advertised as “microwave or dishwasher safe”; they emit dangerous chemicals when heated. • Do not cause a plastic container to become hot by leaving it directly in the sun or near an oven. • If you want to warm food kept in plastic containers in the freezer, first relocate it into a ceramic bowl, a pot, or a pan before warming it.
KPOMO
Kpomo or Kanda, is the local name for Cow Hyde, used in Nigerian cuisine. Hyde whether dry roasted or skinned wet is an extremely popular part of the Cow because of its affordability and its soft and juicy affinity when prepared as accompaniment to local soups and sauces. Kpomo may be eaten in pepper soup, or as peppered steak, kebabs or in tomato and pepper sauce. Kpomo consist of gelatin with no calorie so one can binge on a large quantity without feeling guilty. Consumer demand for Kpomo is high and sale is lucrative so the market has various versions, many unfit for human consumption. Kpomo is best dry roasted on firewood to burn off the hair and ensure preservation for a longer period of time. However, unscrupulous traders, use old tyres to burn the hairs to save the costs of firewood. The ingestion of residue chemicals from foods prepared through the combustion of tyres is a secondary source of smoke that is just as harmful as inhaling directly from a primary source like cigarettes. Recently, due to high demand, Traders now import Hides from foreign countries and use cheap but harmful Formaldehyde for preservation. Formaldehyde, known as Formalin, is an anti-decay chemical used to treat cadaver. Before this kind of Kpomo is sold in the markets, Traders soak it in Formalin to increase its size and thickness and make more profit. Healthwise, ingestion of Formalin can have a negative long-term effect on the liver and kidney. If you love to eat kpomo, check the following: • Smell - if it stinks to high heavens, it has been soaked in formalin, do not buy. • Size - if it is very thick, do not buy, even after cajoling that, it is from cow head. • Colour - Avoid black or brown Kpomo because it was probably burnt with tyres or seller may have applied formalin. Buy white Kpomo, it is fresh, but extremely hard and takes a longer time to cook. To be safe buy kpomo directly from the Abattoir or buy dry ‘Kpomo Kika’ and soak in water overnight or for some hours before use. Cooking this may take a longer time but your health is better for it. 79
