Every Kitchen Needs a Mortar and Pestle

The propensity of Africans to take whatever food they have, pound it into powder and mash it into some sort of playdough type blob never ceases to amaze me.

In Zambia, they did it with maize, sorghum, millet and cassava.  (All called nsima.)  In Nigeria, they do it with corn (somu), cassava (eba), yam (amala), wheat, plantains (fufu), beans (moin moin or akara), and even, rice!  Wheat is definitely my least favorite.

Today, I finally got to try moin moin; the bean version of blob.  It was really good.  Tasted like the carrots my mommy makes with potatoes when the family has pot roast.  Must be some similar spices in them.  At home, Mommy makes my carrots and potatoes in a separate dish so they don't get icky pig juice on them.  Here, Auntie made my moin moin separate, without the crayfish.  I'm so lucky to have wonderful people who make food just for me. :)  Thank you!

But I'd still like to know, how does one come up with this stuff?  I mean, who's like "oh, here's a tasty food!  I know, if we beat the crap out of it and mix it with water so we can play with it with our hands while eating, it'll taste even better!"?

P.S. I still use a spoon.

 

[Mortar and Pestle cc by-nc cbcastro from http://flickr.com/photos/cbcastro/406494866/]