Kunun zaki
This recipe is a variation of a Greenstone recipe as originally submitted by: J O Olajide, Department of Food Science and Engineering, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Nigeria.
Kunun zaki, a non-alcoholic beverage produced from millet and spices (ginger, cloves, red and black pepper) the method of preparation of the drink is described below.
Ingredients:
- 4 cups de-hulled millet
- 1 teaspoon each (ginger, cloves, grain of paradise and black peppercorn)
- Sugar (to taste)
- Other:
- Large bowl, Sieve
Directions:
- Place the millet in a large bowl and cover with water. leave for 24hours. Discard the water and wash the millet thoroughly.
- Place the millet and spices in a blender, puree until very smooth
- Add some water to the pureed mixture (just enough to make sieving easier). Sieve the mixture and discard the resulting shaft.
- Allow the slurry to settle for three to five hours and decant the supernatant (clear liquid above the sediment). The resulting settled mixture should be thick
- Divide the mixture into two parts (Part A should be two thirds of the mixture, and Part B, one third).
- Mix Part A with a small quantity of water and add boiling water to a ratio of 4 cups of water to 1 part of slurry for partial gelatinization of the slurry.
- Mix Part B with cold water in a ratio of 3 cups of water to 1 part of slurry.
- Thoroughly combine the two slurries (Part A and Part B) and add sugar to taste. The product obtained is the kunun zaki
The lovely Ozoz of Kitchen Butterfly shared the recipes for Kunnu Gyada ( Rice kunnu) and Kunnu aya (Tiger nut kunnu) .
Comment…hi, I would love to start this kunun Zaki as a business but I’ll need to know if I can add native corn to the millet
Pls i notice when I grind the Millet with all the ingredients including potatoes together.. I divide small quantity apart while I make the other one like pap, after pouring hot water into it . It became watery not thick it’s due to the potatoes or ginger I grind together with the Millet.
Before grinding, take 2handfuls of millet into a separate bowl den add your potato, ginger, clove and maybe dry pepper. Make sure you grind the larger part first then you grind that of the bowl with the ingredients last. By so doing you wont have potato in the larger part. Pour your hot water to the larger to make like pap, leave to cool for like that 30mins den you add dat of the bowl. Hope you find this helpful.
Is it a must to leave overnight? Can someone tell me y to leave overnight is important. Thanks
Mine is to watery can I put on the cooker to thick?
Wow I love this, but I have doubts about leaving it overnight before filtering it, won’t that alter the taste? As in make it taste kinda sour?
Tnx 4 d gud work,I was going try d internet 2 see how kunu was prepared cos I saw dt a lot of pple HV made mistakes in d procedure for preparing it. For kunun zaki,potatoes or malted rice is very IMPORTANT or it will bt b kunun zaki bt other types of kunu.In my place, we make kunu essential in weddings n other celebrations,making more than a sack of millet.If it is not we’ll prepared,no one drinks it.
Pls ma,what if the millet is not dehulled?
Potatoes are very important to the recipe, it is what makes the kunu watery when cool so it doesn’t remain like pap. Do yourself well to add it or else your result will be cold pap. Alternative to this is malted rice, it adds to the fermentation, watery consistency and nice slightly acidic taste.
Thanks for the addition
Can I cook little of Millet before adding the remaining one because it’s normally watery.I only add hot water
Thanks a lot for sharing.You can also use sprouted millet in the place of potatoes.
Please I’ll like to ask if the potatoes are to be boiled before blending
I don’t get this please,are you saying the above recipe needs potatoes?
Please I want to commercialised it .Please help me out. Thanks
Were can I get clove and another name for it blc am lost
Thanks for the recipe.
You are welcome!
There is no potatoes In the ingredients listed above for the kunun, those it mean that we don’t need potato for it
Not for kunun Zaki
@chi Grain of paradise is called alligator pepper in the market.
Pls can I use Irish potatoes instead of sweet potatoes. Urgent please
What is cloves and grain of paradise? ? Please can you put up their picture for easy recognition.
You can find pictures of both on google.
Thanks for this wonderful recipe. Pls can you include pictures of the ingredients used(for easy recommendation in the market) and if possible let have the video of the process. Thanks a lot, remain bless.
Noted. Thanks for the recommendations.
Hi, I found your blog enlightening. I have tried to make kunu with millet, after blending I poured the boiling water and it did not solidify. Hence, I put it on the fire under a moderate heat and it solified lightly. Was I right? Will my style rubbish the outcome? I look forward to your insightful reply. Thanks.
No, your style is perfectly fine.
Thank you for the good work. I enjoyed every bit of it. Please I made my kunu using your method but water separated leaving residue and clear water on top of the bottle. How can I prevent this. Thank you
Am going to try it today,may God help me
Great! let me know how it turns out.
Am very grateful for this, God bless you
amen!
I would appreciate if you can describe or write how to prepare kunun and sobo in Yoruba language for easy understanding. i enjoy kunun and sobo a lot but don’t know how to prepare it. especially the quantity of ginger and other spices to get correct taste. Thanks a lot.
IN YORUBA LANGUAGE???
I want to commercialize this product in my area here but I’ve not done it before. Foodie Prof pls I’ll like u to tutor me pls. My whatsapp is 08135491623
Please what else can use apart from millet seed? Because am not in Nigeria and I don’t think I can get that here please
Where do you live? you can get millet almost anywhere in the world.
@ Sarah: That’s the universal way of making Kunnun Zaki. However, if you have a modified way, you can teach us and we will appreciate this a lot. My amiable professor just gave us the recipe and methodology. All thanks to you sir.
Try this method and I bet you will get a better result:
The ingredients are same as mentioned above .
Method:
1. Soak your grain in water for a day or two. When properly soaked, wash, add your spices and grind. Before grinding, separate a small portion in another container, add your sweet potato (fresh or dry) and grind separately. You can use malted (sprouted) grain instead of the potatoes.
2. After grinding, mix the paste a if you want to make pap and add boiling water sufficient to make it look like pap. Stir continuously and allow to sit for like 30mins.
3. Make another paste with the portion that contains the potatoes/malted grain and introduce into the already made hot kunu. It will then give it a brighter colour at this point.
4. Allow the kunu to cool completely. Once cool, it will become watery by itself, no more like pap. All thanks to the potatoes/malted grain. Note: you can make it in the evening and leave overnight.
5. Filter with sieving cloth, add sugar if desired and serve chilled. Note: you can add more water while filtering if your kunu is too thick for your liking
Thanks for the addition
i need som1 to teach me, any contact?
Hi 9jafoodie, I grew up drinking kunun zaki and I’m sorry but this is not how it is made. For one thing its so thick it looks like pap. If you’re interested I can send you the proper northern recipe for kunun zaki. Btw I love the fact that you represent most if not all naija food especially northern food. I saw the picture of masa on your instagram and it just reminded me of home. Do you have ‘kasko’? The pan used for masa as I noticed it looks more like masa than the post on your blog. God bless your efforts.
Thanks Sara, thank you very much for taking the time to comment. This recipe was verified by two people who grew up on Zaki. I am curious on how you made it growing up, please send us an email with your recipe. The end result isn’t thick, I am not sure the picture appears that way.
For masa- I found something very similar to a Kasko on Amazon.
oh!
my thoughts exactly, we drink kunun alot back home
and i make for my cousins here in lagos.
Guess there are different way of preparation.
Keep up the good work @9jafoodie
Indeed there are lots of ways to cook …. Thanks thanks
Wat does it mean de-hulled millet. Cos I see millet in d mkt, tot any one goes
Millet without shaft. That’s the type they sell in most markets.
Would like to try this recipe…..but do i have to use de hulled millet or can i use the hulled millet?
you should use de-hulled millet.
I. Would love to try this recipe,however reading it just makes me want to bring out my dictionary and thesarus rather than cooking utensils;gelatinization?, supernatant? Come on!
lol…The recipe was originally written by a professor, hence the big words. If you look past that it’s a pretty easy recipe….. pleaseeeeee try it :D
Nice but not sure I have the energy to try this very soon. BTW, Thot U and our aunty ‘omoalata’ said peppercorns aint sold in Naija, where we go see am buy now?
It doesn’t grow in Nigeria but it is sold in Nigeria.
I have to try this.
yes pleaseeeeeee