Africa

Ekuru: Nigerian White Steamed Bean Pudding with Ata Dindin

Name: Ekuru: Nigerian White Steamed Bean Pudding with Ata Dindin
Prep time: 8 h 35 min
Cook time: 60 min
Total time: 9 h 35 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Nigerian
Ingredients: 300 g Dried black-eyed peas; Plenty for soaking, 100 to 140 ml for blending Water; 1 tsp Salt; 2 tsp Vegetable oil; 18 cm squares, 8 Banana leaves; 800 to 1000 ml Water for the steamer; 2 (about 280 g) Red bell peppers; 1 (about 160 g) Tomato; 1 (about 180 g) Onion; 1/4 Scotch bonnet or habanero; 3 tbsp Red palm oil or rice bran oil; 1 tsp Ground dried shrimp or crayfish; 1/2 tsp Salt; 2 tbsp Water

Ekuru from Yorubaland in southwest Nigeria, adapted to a home kitchen: peeling black-eyed peas, whipping a thick batter, steaming, and the red ata dindin sauce. Water amounts for a light white bean pudding, wrapping, storage, substitutes, how it is eaten locally, how it differs from moin moin, and an FAQ.

Published: October 25, 2026Total: 9 hr 35 minLevel: Intermediate

Cooking flow

Cooking steps

STEP 11 / 7

Soak the beans and peel off the skins

8 h 25 min

Rubbing black-eyed peas in water and rinsing away the floating skins — Removing the skins makes the mouthfeel of ekuru light. Rinse away the floating skins while changing the water

Wash 300 g dried black-eyed peas and soak them in plenty of water for 8 hours. When the beans are plump, rub them in the water with both hands and rinse away the floating skins. Change the water 3 to 4 times until more than 80% of the beans look white. This step uses no heat. The guide is that the beans split when pressed with a finger, showing water has gone to the center.

STEP 22 / 7

Make a thick paste

6 min

Blending skinned black-eyed peas in a food processor into a thick white paste — Add water from the minimum that lets it turn. Make a thick paste that leaves a mound, not a loose liquid

Put the drained beans in a food processor, add 100 ml water and run for 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides, and only if the blade spins empty add water 1 tablespoon at a time. Do not go beyond 140 ml in total, and make a smooth paste in which the grains have almost vanished. The guide is a thickness that falls slowly from a spoon and leaves a little mound above the bowl. No heat is used.

STEP 33 / 7

Work in air

5 min

Beating the white bean paste with a wooden spoon to work in fine bubbles — Once the salt is in, beat in one direction. Work in air until it is whitish and fine bubbles show

Move the paste to a bowl and add 1 tsp salt. Beat hard in one direction with a wooden spoon for about 3 minutes until the surface turns whitish and small bubbles are dotted over it. It is enough when, lifted, the batter falls slowly in a ribbon and the fallen track stays without disappearing at once. No heat is used. Making lightness here keeps the finished pudding from becoming a dense bean dumpling.

STEP 44 / 7

Fill the leaves and cups

8 min

Filling white ekuru batter into banana leaves and heatproof cups to 80% full — Leaf packets and heatproof cups alike, to 80% full. Leaving space at the top makes the steamed pudding less likely to crack

Cut the banana leaves into 18 cm squares and wipe off the moisture. Lay a leaf in a small bowl, hollow the center and fill with batter to 80% full. If making in heatproof cups, brush the inside thinly with vegetable oil and fill to 80% full in the same way. Leave about 1.5 cm of space at the top, and fold the left and right sides of the leaf packets to make a flat square. No heat is used. If overfilled, steam has nowhere to escape and only the top tends to crack.

STEP 55 / 7

Steam over medium heat

35–40 min

Steaming banana leaf packets and heatproof cups of ekuru over medium heat in a steamer — Steam over a medium heat where the steam does not break. When the batter no longer clings heavily to the skewer, it is cooked

Bring 800 to 1000 ml water to a boil in a steamer, and when steam is rising strongly over high heat, arrange the leaf packets and cups with gaps between them. Cover, lower to medium heat and steam for 35 minutes, keeping the steam from stopping. Push a bamboo skewer into the center: if the white batter does not cling heavily, the surface has set, and it springs back when pressed lightly with a finger, it is cooked through. If not, add 5 minutes at medium heat.

STEP 66 / 7

Cook down the ata dindin

18 min

Cooking down an ata dindin sauce of red bell pepper and tomato in a pan — Don't serve the sauce watery. Cook it down over medium-low heat until the oil seeps at the edge

Coarsely blend the red bell peppers, tomato, half the onion, chili and 2 tbsp water. Cut the remaining onion into 5 mm dice. Put 3 tbsp oil in a pan, warm over medium heat and cook the onion for 4 minutes. When the aroma rises and the edges are lightly colored, add the paste and cook down over medium-low heat for 12 to 14 minutes. When the moisture has gone, red oil seeps at the edge, and a track stays for a moment when you drag a wooden spoon across the bottom, mix in the salt and ground dried shrimp.

STEP 77 / 7

Rest and serve

5 min

Opening steamed white ekuru and plating it with red ata dindin sauce — Rest the steamed pudding 3 minutes before opening. Eat the white bean pudding with the red sauce

Turn off the heat under the steamed ekuru, set the lid slightly ajar and rest for 3 minutes. Opening suddenly tends to dry the surface, so let a little steam escape before opening the leaves. Put the white ekuru in the center of the plate and the red sauce beside it. A small portion of eko, pap or soft rice makes it easier to receive the hot sauce.

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Ingredients

1 / 2

Ekuru itself

Ingredient	Amount	Substitutes & notes
Dried black-eyed peas	300 g	Peel after soaking
Water	Plenty for soaking, 100 to 140 ml for blending	Add from the minimum that lets it turn
Salt	1 tsp	Mix in just before steaming
Vegetable oil	2 tsp	Brush thinly in heatproof cups. Not needed on days you wrap only in banana leaves
Banana leaves	18 cm squares, 8	If none, 8 heatproof cups about 8 cm across
Water for the steamer	800 to 1000 ml	Prepare an amount that will not run out partway

2 / 2

Ata dindin-style sauce

Ingredient	Amount	Substitutes & notes
Red bell peppers	2 (about 280 g)	Red peppers also work. The base of sweetness and red color
Tomato	1 (about 160 g)	Watery, so cook it down
Onion	1 (about 180 g)	Half roughly chopped, half into the paste
Scotch bonnet or habanero	1/4	1/2 red chili also works. Start with less heat
Red palm oil or rice bran oil	3 tbsp	Red palm oil has a strong aroma. Rice bran oil is fine the first time
Ground dried shrimp or crayfish	1 tsp	Leave out on days you avoid seafood
Salt	1/2 tsp	Adjust at the end
Water	2 tbsp	Only if the blender will not turn

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The moment a red sauce goes on a white steamed bean pudding

Soak black-eyed peas in water at night, and the next morning your kitchen becomes a little West African prep room. Rub the beans while changing the water and the thin skins float off, leaving only white beans at the bottom of the bowl. Fry them in oil and you have akara (in Japanese); take them to the steamer and you have ekuru.

Ekuru is a white steamed bean pudding loved in Yorubaland in southwest Nigeria. Skinned black-eyed peas are made into a thick paste, and without mixing oil or chili into the batter it is steamed white. It is eaten with a red fried-pepper sauce such as ata dindin on top, so the contrast of white and red stands out clearly on the plate.

A table with white ekuru wrapped in banana leaves, red ata dindin sauce and eko — Ekuru is a white steamed bean pudding eaten with a separate red sauce. Not mixing oil or chili into the batter is the way in

Among Nigerian dishes, compared with the red rice of jollof rice, the grilled aroma of suya and the thick seed soup of egusi soup, ekuru is a quiet dish. But being quiet, it leaves nowhere to hide. Too much water and it will not set, without air it is heavy, and rough steaming makes it crack.

This article makes ekuru with black-eyed peas that are easy to buy, heatproof cups and a household steamer. If you have banana leaves the aroma gets closer, but on days you don't, steaming in cups is fine. The points to protect are three: peel the beans, make a thick batter, and finish the sauce separately and richly.

What is ekuru?

In English-language explanations ekuru is sometimes introduced as plain steamed bean pudding or white moin moin. Moin moin is also a steamed dish of black-eyed peas, but it is often made with oil, chili, onion, fish and egg mixed into the batter to give it color and fillings. Ekuru is the opposite: a white batter lightly steamed and combined with a spicy sauce outside.

The usual spelling of the local name is Ekuru, and it is often described as a Yoruba home dish. Wikipedia too lists it as a bean dish of the Yoruba of southwest Nigeria. Since information is still scarce in other languages, the first time it is easier to make if you remember it not as "white moin moin" but as a separate dish steamed white and eaten with a red sauce.

Dish	Main cooking	Color and taste of the batter	How it is eaten
Ekuru	Steamed	White. Beans, salt and water at the center	With ata dindin, eko or pap
Moin moin	Steamed	Reddish, often with oil or fillings mixed in	Alone, with rice, garri or pap
Akara	Fried	Bean batter with onion and chili	Breakfast, with bread, pap, chili sauce

Because of this separation, ekuru is also a dish that is easy to adjust on days the family eats together. People who like heat take more of the red sauce, while children and those who dislike heat break the white pudding small and take only a little sauce. Because the batter itself is not hot, the table can span a range of tastes. Even when you reproduce it elsewhere, keeping this idea of "separate the white body and the red sauce" makes the difference from moin moin visible.

Ekuru can also be used as a bean dish for days when you want to cut back on oil. But it is not a bland dish. If you cook the red sauce down properly until the oil seeps out, the whiteness of the beans and the aroma of the sauce mesh.

Ingredients (serves 4)

Ekuru ingredients: black-eyed peas, skinned beans, onion, tomato, red chili, banana leaves and a steamer — In ekuru the peeling of the black-eyed peas and the steamer are the stars. Prepare the red sauce ingredients separately

Allergies and heat

The main ingredient is beans. People who react to soy, peanuts or other legumes should avoid it or follow a doctor's instructions. If using ground dried shrimp or crayfish in the sauce, watch for crustacean allergy. Chili is strong even in a small amount, so on days you eat with children or elderly family, put the sauce in a separate dish and add heat afterward.

What is worth seeking out when shopping

Ekuru is not a dish for which you search for meat or dairy. What is worth seeking out are the black-eyed peas that are hard to find nearby, a food processor that can make a thick bean paste, and a steamer that makes steaming stable. Black-eyed peas also go to akara, Ghana's red red and waakye (in Japanese), so one bag on the shelf widens the way into West African cooking.

Skinned beans have to be blended with little water. An ordinary blender can do it, but adding too much water because it will not turn means it will not set when steamed. A small food processor that can make a thick paste can be reused for akara and aromatic pastes.

If ekuru is steamed weakly the center is loose, and if too strongly it cracks easily. A two-tier steamer makes it easy to line up leaf packets and heatproof cups, and is a tool that goes to other steamed dishes too.

Method

The failures of ekuru gather around three things: too much water, too little air, and rough steaming. Soak the beans the night before, and on the day peel them and steam all at once for an easy schedule. Make the sauce while it steams.

A decision table for a home kitchen

For ekuru, leaning toward lightly steaming a white bean batter, rather than adding ingredients to make it luxurious, keeps more of its local character. Where you hesitate in shopping, think separately about what to protect and what to replace.

Where you hesitate	What to protect	Realistic choice elsewhere
No black-eyed peas	That skinning gives a white, light bean batter	Rather than white kidney beans, look for black-eyed peas online or at a specialty shop
No banana leaves	Setting plump with steam	Brush heatproof cups thinly with oil and steam
The chili is too strong	Adjusting heat on the sauce side	Keep it out of the batter and put the sauce in a separate dish
No red palm oil	Cooking the sauce down well	Use rice bran oil and make up color and aroma with the peppers and the reduction
No eko or pap	Serving a grain to receive the white beans	Soft rice, cornstarch porridge, thin polenta

Red palm oil gets the aroma closer, but making it essential from the first time raises the shopping barrier. If you keep the whiteness of the ekuru itself, the thickness of the batter, and the structure of a separately reduced sauce, it stands as a dish in a home kitchen.

Causes of failure

A plate comparing cross-sections of good ekuru, damp and heavy ekuru, and cracked, dry ekuru — The failures of ekuru show in moisture, air and steaming. A good cross-section has fine holes and is white and fluffy

Watery after steaming

The batter has too much water or the steaming time was too short. Start with 100 ml of water when blending, and only if the blade will not turn, add 1 tablespoon at a time. If the white batter clings heavily to the skewer when done, add 5 minutes at medium heat. If the water runs low partway, the heat weakens and the center is slow to set.

The cross-section is dense and heavy

Many skins may have been left, the beating was insufficient, or the beans were not soaked enough. The skins need not be perfect, but you want to remove more than 80%. After making the paste, add the salt and beat hard for about 3 minutes, and check for whitishness and fine bubbles.

The surface cracks

The cups were overfilled or the steam too strong. Stop the batter at 80% full and leave about 1.5 cm of space at the top. Once steam rises, don't leave it on high heat; lower it to medium. It can be eaten even cracked, but it dries easily, so serve a bit more sauce.

The sauce is watery

The moisture of the tomato and peppers has not cooked off. Cook down 12 to 14 minutes over medium-low heat until a track stays for a moment when you drag a wooden spoon across the bottom. When red oil seeps at the edge, the taste can stand up to the whiteness of the beans.

White ekuru stored in banana leaves in a container, with the red sauce divided into a separate container — Store ekuru apart from the sauce. Re-steaming to reheat keeps the white batter from drying

Ekuru comes together best eaten hot with the red sauce on top. The white bean batter alone feels lacking, so prepare not a small amount of sauce but enough that a little clings to each mouthful. With eko or pap it moves closer to the local table, but soft rice or thin polenta can also play the role of receiving the heat.

For a menu, serving a small portion of ekuru like a starter and putting jollof rice as the staple brings out the contrast of red rice and white beans. For a light lunch, setting a sour salad-type dish such as abacha (in Japanese) alongside cuts the heaviness of beans and oil.

State	Storage guide	Reheating
Freshly steamed	Eat on the spot	Rest 3 minutes and serve with the sauce
Refrigerated	2 days	In a steamer over medium heat for 5 to 7 minutes. In a microwave, 600 W for 40 to 60 seconds
Frozen	2 weeks	Half-thaw in the refrigerator and re-steam over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes
Sauce	3 days refrigerated	Over low heat in a small pot for 3 minutes. Stop when it simmers

For storage, keep the ekuru and the sauce apart. Refrigerated with the sauce on it, the surface gets damp and the aroma of the white batter blurs. If eating the next day, re-steam the ekuru, warm the sauce separately and then combine.

FAQ

Q1. Can I make it without removing all the skins of the black-eyed peas?

You can make it without removing all, but with many skins it turns grayish and heavy. At home aim for 80% or more. Rubbing them in water and rinsing off the floating skins several times speeds it up.

Q2. Can I make it with canned beans?

I don't recommend it. Canned beans are already cooked and watery, so it is hard to make a thick batter. Ekuru is less likely to fail if you think of it as a dish where you soak dried black-eyed peas, peel them and then grind them.

Q3. Is it the same dish as moin moin?

They are close steamed bean dishes, but it is easier to make if you do not treat them as the same. Moin moin sometimes has oil, chili, fish and egg in the batter. Ekuru is characterized by being steamed white and combined with a red sauce outside.

Q4. What if I have no banana leaves?

You can make it in heatproof cups. Brush the inside thinly with vegetable oil, fill the batter to 80% and steam. The aroma of the leaf will not come out, but the texture of a white bean pudding can be reproduced.

Q5. Can I eat it without the sauce?

You can, but it is quite bland. It stands as a salted steamed bean pudding, but a proper ekuru table wants the red sauce. Even if you reduce the heat, serve a sauce of peppers, onion and oil cooked down.

Q6. What can I use leftover black-eyed peas for?

In Nigeria, akara (in Japanese); in Ghana, red red and waakye (in Japanese). Once you are used to skinning the beans, the difference between frying, steaming and stewing becomes visible, and West African bean dishes become much easier to make.

Sources

Wikipedia, "Ekuru", https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ekuru
Nigerian Food TV, "Ekuru - How to Make Ekuru", https://www.nigerianfoodtv.com/ekuru-how-to-make-ekuru-plain-steamed/
Sisiyemmie, "Ekuru Recipe: How to Cook Ekuru aka Ofuloju", https://sisiyemmie.com/2021/04/ekuru-recipe-how-to-cook-ekuru-aka.html
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, "Ekuru", https://www.fao.org/in-action/inpho/resources/cookbook/detail/en/c/1008/