Masa/Waina: How to Prepare Waina/Masa

Waina is a simple meal that is also known as Masa. It is a dish that can be prepared with soaked Maize or local Rice. You can decide to mix the two together like that of this recipe.

It is mostly prepared in the Northern part of Nigeria and is eaten with Miyan Waina/Taushe.

It can be prepared plain or sweetened with sugar. When prepared with sugar, it is often served with a drink of choice grounded kuli kuli or mixed pepper.

Today on Dee’s Mealz, I’m going to show you how to prepare the plain Waina. This type is usually eaten with soup.

The first thing I did was soak the maize. I allowed it to soak for 2 days so that it can be very soft.

If you don’t want to have to soaked the maize, then you can decide to use Tsakin pate ( braised maize).

Below is a video on how to prepare tsakin pate.

The parboiled rice to use shouldn’t be much. For measurements, a cup of parboiled rice is supposed to be used for a tier i.e 16 cups of local rice, maize or both.

The pan used for frying is pretty special because it gives the Waina its shape. The pan is known as tanda or tandan waina, kasko in Hausa, while the Japanese call it the Takoyaki Pan. You can get it on Amazon, Click here.

Vegetable oil is used in the frying to avoid the paste sticking to the pan.

To pour the paste in the pan, you can use a deep cooking spoon or a small jug. It makes the frying process a lot easier.

So, let’s begin cooking.

Ingredients

• 8 cups of local rice
• 1 cup of foreign rice
• 8 cups of Maize or Tsakin pate
• 2 medium onion
• 2 tablespoon of yeast
• 2 cups of vegetable oil

Below is a video you can watch on the full preparation.

Waina | Masa Preparation

Clean up the local rice by getting rid of any form of dirt in it and soak for 30-40 minutes.

Wash the foreign rice and parboil.

Now wash the soaked maize and turn in a basket to drain.

Wash the soaked rice with water till the water is colorless. Drain and turn in a bowl or bucket.

Now add the washed maize or braised maize to the bowl or bucket and mix.

Turn the parboiled rice and add water to level.

Wash and slice in the onions. Mix and grind into a smooth paste.

After grinding, add the yeast, a little water if necessary and mix. ,

Note: we don’t want the paste to be too watery because it will make it sink when frying and also hard to flip over. So I just mixed it with the water added from the grinding machine.

Cover the paste and leave it under the sun or in a warm place and allow to rise.

When the paste has risen, the frying process begins.

Set the pan on heat and allow to heat up before greasing with vegetable oil.

Using a jug or deep cooking spoon, add the paste to the pan and allow to fry till brown (optional) before flipping it over.

Tips: it’s advisable to use a table spoon for the greasing and flipping.

When it’s all brown, pack into a plate with a spoon and serve with the prepared soup.

Serve while hot.

Enjoy and expect more Nigerian recipes.