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Kunun gyada (groundnut and rice gruel)
Kunun gyada: warm northern porridge of groundnut milk and rice, soured with tamarind
Breakfast sellers in Kano and Zaria pour kunun gyada from big flasks into bowls, steaming hot on cool mornings and at Ramadan suhoor. Raw groundnuts are blended into a milk, boiled with rice until it thickens, and then soured with tamarind, which gives a creamy, nutty, sweet-sour gruel with soft grains of rice. It is filling enough to stand as breakfast on its own, or with a few pieces of kosai. Groundnut milk foams up just like dairy milk and is the cause of the most common mishap, so use a big pan and stay close. A frequent slip is adding the tamarind too early, which can make the groundnut milk curdle; stir it in at the end. Chef's tip: add the tamarind off the heat; boiling it hard can make the gruel split grainily.
- Total time
- 45 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
- 5 ½ oz raw skinned groundnutssoaked 1 hour
- 3 ½ oz short-grain ricesoaked 1 hour
- 5 cups water
- 1 ⅜ oz tamarind pulpsoaked in 200 ml hot water; or juice of 1 lemon
- 2 ⅛ oz sugarto taste
- ½ tsp ground ginger (optional)
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Method
0/6 doneStep 1: Drain 5 ½ oz raw skinned groundnuts and blend with 800 ml of the 5 cups water for 2–3 minutes. Strain through a fine sieve or cloth into a large pan, squeezing out all the milk.
5 minStep 2: Drain 3 ½ oz short-grain rice and blend with the remaining 400 ml water for a few seconds only, so the grains are broken but not powdered.
1 minStep 3: Bring the groundnut milk to the boil over a medium heat, stirring; lower the heat as soon as it foams up.
6 minStep 4: Stir in the rice mixture and ½ tsp ground ginger. Simmer for 15–20 minutes, stirring often, until the rice is soft and the gruel coats a spoon thickly.
18 minStep 5: Squeeze 1 ⅜ oz tamarind pulp in its water and strain the sour liquid into a bowl, discarding seeds and fibre.
3 minStep 6: Take the pan off the heat and stir in the tamarind liquid and 2 ⅛ oz sugar to taste. Serve warm.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 320 kcal
- Protein
- 9 g
- Carbs
- 38 g
- Fat
- 15 g
- Fibre
- 3 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does kunun gyada (groundnut and rice gruel) take?
- About 45 minutes in total: 20 minutes to prepare and 25 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegan?
- Yes. It has no meat, fish, dairy or eggs.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- What can I use instead of short-grain rice?
- Any long-grain rice, same amount.
- What can I use instead of sugar?
- Caster sugar, same amount.
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