Fura or doonu is a type of food originating from

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Maurit ...

’s

Sahel The Sahel (; ar, ساحل ' , "coast, shore") is a region in North Africa. It is defined as the ecoclimatic and biogeographic realm of transition between the Sahara to the north and the Sudanian savanna to the south. Having a hot semi-arid c ...

region and that is popular among the Zarma-Songhai,

Fulani The Fula, Fulani, or Fulɓe people ( ff, Fulɓe, ; french: Peul, links=no; ha, Fulani or Hilani; pt, Fula, links=no; wo, Pël; bm, Fulaw) are one of the largest ethnic groups in the Sahel and West Africa, widely dispersed across the region. ...

and

Hausa Hausa may refer to: * Hausa people, an ethnic group of West Africa * Hausa language, spoken in West Africa * Hausa Kingdoms, a historical collection of Hausa city-states * Hausa (horse) or Dongola horse, an African breed of riding horse See also * ...

peoples of the Sahel. It is a

millet Millets () are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most species generally referred to as millets belong to the tribe Paniceae, but some millets al ...

dough ball, with "fura" meaning millet ball. It is also eaten in

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesGhana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

. Certainly, the making of the classic dish, fura da nono (seasoned, boiled millet balls served with sour milk), represents such a blending of food resources and styles of cuisine. This suggests that a transfer of the cuisine of fura served with sour ... The millet is grounded into a powdered form, rolled and molded into balls, then mashed and mixed with ''Nono'' - a fermented milk. The combination of fura and nono is known as Fura Da Nono, a locally-made drink that contains carbohydrate and fiber. The fura food and the fura da nono drink are popular in

Northern Nigeria Northern Nigeria was an autonomous division within Nigeria, distinctly different from the southern part of the country, with independent customs, foreign relations and security structures. In 1962 it acquired the territory of the United Kingd ...

. They are served during special occasions and as a meal in the afternoons.

Preparation

Ingredients

* Ground millet or Guinea corn * Ground peppers * Dried ground chili * Dried ground ginger * Ground cloves * Salt to taste * Sugar

Steps

The

is first washed, then the peels are removed. It is dried and ground. Dried

ginger Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice A spice is a seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices ...

clove Cloves are the aromatic flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae, ''Syzygium aromaticum'' (). They are native to the Maluku Islands (or Moluccas) in Indonesia, and are commonly used as a spice, flavoring or fragrance in consumer products, ...

s, and

chili pepper Chili peppers (also chile, chile pepper, chilli pepper, or chilli), from Nahuatl '' chīlli'' (), are varieties of the berry-fruit of plants from the genus ''Capsicum'', which are members of the nightshade family Solanaceae, cultivated for ...

are ground together and added to the powdered millet. Salt is added to the mixture before it is poured into a mortar and pounded while water is sprinkled gradually to form a dough. This is then molded into the desired shapes. The dough can also be poured into a bowl and covered with a leaf overnight for it to

ferment Fermentation is a metabolism, metabolic process that produces chemical changes in organic Substrate (chemistry), substrates through the action of enzymes. In biochemistry, it is narrowly defined as the extraction of energy from carbohydrates in ...

. The balls are cooked in a pot, then pounded, and sprinkled with water again. The dough is pounded until it becomes very soft. The paste can then be shaped into balls. It is be dusted with millet or corn flour to prevent the fura from sticking together.

Commercialization in Nigeria

Fura popularly known in Nigeria as Fura de nunu which was once seen as a local meal has gradually evolved into a growing enterprise that involves modernized processing methods and production.

References

External links