THE ART OF DESIGN written by
lostinlagos.com
Iquo Ukoh
WAINA OR MASA
Iquo Ukoh, the founder of 1Q Food Platter Blog, is a trained dietician from the University of Nigeria. Iquo has worked with one of the world’s biggest food multinational companies for over 30 years. For more than half of this time, she has developed recipes for Nigerian women. The inspiration for her blog, 1Q Food Platter, was to share food and health tips to create variety and excitement for a sensible, healthy lifestyle.
INGREDIENTS 1 cup uncooked broken rice or tuwa rice 2 tablespoons cooked rice 2 tablespoons sugar or honey 1 tablespoon flour for baking (optional) 1/8 teaspoon baking powder (optional) 1/4 teaspoon yeast 1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese 1 tablespoon turkey, cold meat or bacon DIRECTIONS Pick out the dirt and wash the uncooked rice. Soak it in 1 1/2 cups of water overnight. You will notice some foam on top of the water. This indicates a bit of fermentation. Boil about 2 tablespoon of the rice until soft. Blend the leftover raw rice in the water used in fermenting it until it is smooth. Add the cooked rice and sugar then blend the batter to a smooth paste. Pour the batter into a bowl. Add the flour, baking powder and yeast. I chose to add the flour and baking powder to allow the yeast have something to act on. This way the masa has a fluffier texture . Cover the bowl containing the batter with cling film. Allow the batter to rise for about 3 to 4 hours. If the room temperature is warm then 3 hours is fine. Mix the batter well then add the cheese and meats. Fry in oiled masa pans or pancake puff pans if you have them. You can also use small moin moin cups but oil them very well. Serve waina or masa for breakfast or dinner .
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