🇳🇬 Nigeria and 🇳🇪 Niger · Northern Nigeria and the Sahel (Hausa)
Miyan kuka (baobab leaf soup)Nigerian baobab leaf soup
A Hausa soup of dried baobab leaves ground to a powder, which thickens it, cooked with onion, ground pepper, crayfish, and beef or goat, and eaten with tuwo (such as tuwon shinkafa).
Origin and history
Miyan kuka is a staple of Hausa and Fulani households in northern Nigeria, and of the Sahel. The Hausa regard the baobab tree as both sacred and a source of everyday food; the leaves are sun-dried and ground to a powder. The soup is served at weddings, naming ceremonies and festivals, and recipes are passed down by word of mouth.
Make it at home
- Makes
- 4 to 6 servings
- Total time
- 50 min
- Hands-on
- 30 min
Ingredients
- 500 g1.1 lb beef or goat, cut in small pieces
- 1 cup dried or smoked fish, cleaned, in chunks (or 3 catfish pieces)
- 3 tbsp kuka (dried baobab leaf powder), sifted
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 tbsp ground crayfish
- 2 tbsp dawadawa (fermented locust beans), crushed
- 1 tsp ground hot pepper, or yaji spice mix with ginger and garlic
- 2 to 4 tbsp palm oil, or groundnut oil
- 1 seasoning cube, optional
- salt, to taste
Method
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1. Sift the baobab powder to remove coarse bits.
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2. Cook the meat with half the onion, a cube, salt and about 3 cups water for 30 to 40 minutes, until soft.
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3. Add the dried fish and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the crayfish, pepper, dawadawa and remaining onion.
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4. Add the oil and simmer 3 to 5 minutes. If using fresh catfish, add it now and cook until just done.
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5. Sprinkle the kuka in slowly with one hand while stirring with the other, so it does not clump. Add water if too thick.
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6. Simmer on low heat for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring now and then, until it has thickened and slimy-smooth like okra soup. Taste and adjust salt.
Notes
- Miyan kuka is the Hausa baobab leaf soup of northern Nigeria and the Sahel; it is also made by other northern groups such as the Lunguda, and is known as luru in Ghana's Zongo communities. The leaves are dried in the sun and ground. The powder thickens the soup with a mucilaginous, draw-like texture, as okra or ogbono do.
- The usual swallow is tuwo shinkafa (soft pounded rice); tuwo masara (maize) and millet tuwo are also served. Alternatives are any swallow, such as semolina or eba.
- Kuka powder is sold in African and health food shops (often as baobab leaf powder; do not confuse it with baobab fruit pulp powder, which is sour). If you cannot find it, use dried ground okra: the soup then draws like okra soup but loses baobab's earthy, faintly sour flavour. Sifted ogbono is another thickener, but it makes a different soup.
- Dawadawa can be replaced by a little miso or fish sauce; the flavour is more modest. Dried fish and crayfish can be replaced by more meat or shrimp. A fresh-leaf version exists, in the rainy season.
- It thickens as it stands; loosen with water. Keeps 2 days in the fridge.
Adapted from BusinessDay Nigeria, Miyan kuka: proudly Nigerian superfood that can gain UN cultural status, FMN Foods, Miyan kuka recipe, and Contributions of the baobab tree (Adansonia digitata) in Hausa cuisine and folklore in northern Nigeria.
At the festivals
No festival we list has printed it on a menu yet.