How to make Masa or Waina ?

In the last one week I have been trying out meal options with Masa or Waina. Waina is basically a slightly fermented rice meal that is accompanied with a Nigerian soup like Miyan Taushe or Groundnut soup. When visiting any of the northern states you will find Masa being sold in street corners. The type of masa that is eaten with soups are not sweetened.

There are special pots made for this purpose. Some are clay and some are metal. I must confess that I have not found a way to properly cure the metal pot to prevent the rice from sticking . Secondly because of the shape it does not quite sit well on my burner, so I use my pan cake puff pan, which I picked up on one of my trips to Canada.

For many Nigerians in the south Waina is not a common feature on the menu but guess what after reading through my recipes you will change your mind, after all its rice. And Nigerians love rice. I understand that rice is actually the most consumed food item in Nigeria. What I am not so sure of is if we can cultivate the rice used for Waina locally. The type of rice used is Jasmine rice. Of course in the open market you can simply ask for rice for Tuwon Shinkafa.

In making my Waina I realized that I can break the process into days. The initial softening of the rice by soaking for about 12-18 hrs is critical to getting a nice final product. When this stage is left in the fridge you slow down further fermentation process. The next stage which involves adding yeast and baking powder also requires another 3-4 hrs waiting period. But again these are times I could be doing other things. Leaving the batter in the fridge after each step helps to reduce further fermentation or activation of the batter. So aside the time used for soaking and allowing to rise, this is quite a simple dish to make.

So I came up with about 3 different types of sweetened Waina or Masa.

1. Masa with Masarella cheese and melted butter

2. Masa with melted Buttter and Lemon rind

3. Masa with cheese and Bacon. Here you can swoop bacon for beef sausage or chicken bits

Whilst the plain Masa without sugar is paired with Miyan Taushe ( pumpkin ,groundnut and green vegetable soup) is an interesting dish , I prefer the sweetened versions.

1 cup uncooked Rice

2 tables spoons Cooked Rice

1/4 teaspoon Yeast

1/8 teaspoon Baking Powder ( optional)

2 table spoons Sugar or Honey

1. Pick out dirt and wash the rice. Soak in 11/2 cups of water over night. You will notice some form on top of the water. this indicates a bit of fermentation.

2. Boil about 2 tablespoon rice till soft

3. Blend the raw rice in the water used in fermenting it till it is smooth

4. Add the cooked rice and sugar, blend batter to a smooth paste

5. Pour batter into a bowl, add the flour,baking powder and  yeast. I used the flour to allow the yeast have something to act on. This way the masa is has amore fluffy texture .

6. Allow the batter to rise for about 3-4 hrs. If the atmospheric temperature is hot then 3 hrs is fine

7. Mix the batter well and fry in the oiled masa pans or pancake puff pans if you have this. You can also use small moin moin cups but oil very well.

8. Serve masa or waina for breakfast or dinner with egg stew, Suya , or any protein of choice