African Masa

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Masa is a well-blended, slightly fermented rice mixed with other random ingredients. Typically, it is Northern Nigerian food. Northerners are known for their unique and tasty meals such as this one.

This northern staple resembles a pan-fried rice cake; the recipes vary slightly from household to household, but the core principle remains the same. This meal is traditionally shaped into an oval form. You can add onions and ginger to your Hausa rice cake, to make it a more interesting dish to behold.

What is Masa?

For many Africans who may not be familiar with it as food, they will first think about the tribe called Masa first.

Masana, Banana, and Yagoua are all names for a Chadic ethnic group in Cameroon and Chad. The Masa number between 266,000 and 469,000 people, with the majority living in Cameroon. The majority of them are Masana speakers.

It is a northern special food mostly sold and consumed by them northerners as well. It is also known as Waina or Sinasir. Instead of rice, you could also use millet, maize, or sorghum puff batter fermented and baked in a skillet with a concave shape.

What is Masa Made Of ?

It is made with rice and just a few other ingredients, this dish is easy and inexpensive to prepare.

How To Make Masa

Also known as Hausa rice cake, it is another delectable Hausa dish. It is made with ‘tuwo rice,’ as it is known in Northern Nigeria. Tuwo rice is a type of rice used specifically for tuwo shinkafa. Tuwo rice has the advantage of sticking together with one another, as opposed to conventional rice grains that separate.

The preparation process is easy but tasking especially when blending your rice or substituting elements. Always get your ingredients ready and use a powerful blender when blending your rice.

In this case, you’d need the following ingredients in making this meal; Fermented Rice or its substitute (tuwon shinkafa), active dry yeast, sugar to your taste, water, some onions(if you don’t mind), baking soda, and oil.

Important Notes

• The Masa should be well blended so it’s advisable to use a very powerful blender.
• Though your masa consistency will be creamy but you will still find some tiny grains of Rice in the Masa no matter how you blend it, it’s unavoidable.
• The rice batter should not be too watery else the rice batter will get scattered in the pan. It should not be too thick as well else the resulting cake will be too hard.
• Make sure you add the Water gradually while blending until you get a creamy consistency like custard or Pap – I usually start up using 1 Cup of Water for every 3 Cups of Dry Rice but it’s very likely you may need more. 
• If you feel your masa needs more Water then It’s better to add that after proofing the Masa because Masa usually gets more liquidly after proofing so watch out.
• If baking soda is added, the Masa will look more fluffier than when it’s not added.

What to eat with African Masa

It is basically a slightly fermented rice meal that is accompanied with a Nigerian soup like Miyan Taushe or Groundnut soup.

This recipe tastes so delicious and my family could not have enough of it. You definitely need to give this a try!