Fura Da Nono
Overview
Fura da nono is millet and milk, and the name says exactly that: fura is the millet ball, nono is the fermented milk. Spiced millet dough is rolled into balls, then mashed into soured milk and drunk from a bowl or a calabash. It is both a meal and a drink and Nigerians do not find that ambiguous. It belongs to the Sahel and to the peoples who move across it. The Fulani, the Hausa and the Zarma-Songhai all make it, and it is eaten across northern Nigeria, Niger and Ghana. Its logic is the logic of cattle keeping: milk that will not keep in the heat is soured deliberately, and millet that grows where little else does is what goes with it. The way it is sold explains its form. Vendors carry the fura balls and the nono separately and combine them to order, mashing the millet into the milk in front of the customer, which lets them sell two products from one stand and keeps the fura from going soggy before it is bought. In a hot climate, a cold, sour, filling drink that costs very little is a serious thing rather than a refreshment, and fura da nono has held its place in northern Nigerian life without needing to modernise.
AFN Heritage Note
Fura da nono is documented among the Fulani, Hausa and Zarma-Songhai peoples of the Sahel, and is eaten across northern Nigeria, Niger and Ghana. It combines pearl millet, a drought tolerant grain long cultivated across the region, with soured milk from cattle keeping.
Ingredients
Dietary tags are provided by contributors as a guide, not verified by AFN, and they depend on the products you buy. If you have a serious allergy, check every ingredient yourself. Cooking, allergies and your own judgement
Directions
- 1
Rinse the millet grains and drain well. Grind them into a coarse flour using a spice grinder or blender.
- 2
In a bowl, mix the millet flour with the ginger, cloves, cayenne pepper if using, and salt.
- 3
Gradually add the warm water, stirring continuously, until a firm but pliable dough forms. Adjust the water slightly as needed.
- 4
Pinch off small pieces of dough and roll them into smooth balls about the size of a ping pong ball.
- 5
Set the fura balls aside under a damp towel until you are ready to serve.
- 6
For the nono, mix the milk and kefir grains in a clean glass jar.
- 7
Cover with a breathable lid or cheesecloth and leave at room temperature for 24 to 48 hours, until the milk has thickened and turned pleasantly tangy.
- 8
Strain the fermented milk through a fine sieve to remove the grains, which can be reused.
- 9
Refrigerate the nono until ready to serve.
- 10
To serve, drop a few fura balls into a bowl or glass and pour the chilled nono over them. Stir gently and let the millet soak up some of the milk.
Africook’s Notes
Personal notes from Deborah Olayiwola- The dough must be firm enough to hold a ball but not dry. Too wet and the balls collapse into the milk immediately; too dry and they stay hard and never soften.
- Keep the fura and the nono separate until serving. That is how vendors sell it and it is the reason the millet does not turn to sludge before it reaches the bowl.
- Mash the balls into the milk rather than leaving them whole. Fura is meant to break down and thicken the nono, not to sit in it.
- Kefir is the practical substitute for nono outside northern Nigeria and is genuinely close in both tang and texture. Plain unsweetened yogurt thinned with milk also works.
- Fura balls keep up to 5 days refrigerated in a sealed container. Nono is best within 2 to 3 days.
Reviews
2 reviews
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my spice grinder almost died trying to crush those hard millet grains, had to do it in tiny batches! but once I mixed in the ginger and cloves the aroma took me straight back to kano. getting real nono here in atlanta is impossible so i used plain unflavored kefir from publix like you suggested. e sweet well well o.
wait abeg, you didn't steam the balls after rolling them? raw ground millet dough will be far too harsh in the mouth o. back home in Kaduna we always steamed the fura balls for at least 20 minutes before mashing them inside the sour milk. I had to steam mine to fix it, otherwise 3 stars for skipping that step sha