Kunun Gyada (Groundnut Milk and Rice Gruel)

Kunun Gyada is a Northern Nigerian gruel (light porridge) made with raw groundnuts and rice. If you know how to make Akamu/Ogi then preparing Kunun Gyada will be a breeze for you.

You know how for Akamu, we boil water then add to the akamu that has been mixed with cool water? In Kunun Gyada, we boil groundnut milk and add to rice blended with cool water. The technique is reversed because the rice is poured into the hot Groundnut Milk but yes, they are quite similar.

Ingredients for making Kunun Gyada

• 150g raw groundnuts (peanuts)
• 50g soft rice variety
• 600 mls cool water
• Tamarind to your taste

Alternative ingredient

• Use Icheku (velvet tamarind) or lemon juice if you do not have tamarind (tsamiya).

Tools

• To blend it, you'll need a kitchen blender. My blender has 600W power and it does a great job of blending soaked groundnuts (peanuts) and soaked rice.
• To strain it you'll need a chiffon cloth or cheese cloth. You can also use a ladies stocking/tights (pantyhose without the panty) like I did in the 

Notes on the ingredients

1. You must use RAW groundnuts (peanuts) for Kunun Gyada.
2. You can buy tamarind and raw groundnuts from African and South American food shops all over the world.
3. Use the soft variety of rice, the type used for Tuwo Shinkafa when making Kunun Gyada.
4. Add tamarind to your taste. For the above quantities of ingredients, I used 3 three-in-a-pod tamarinds.

Before you make Kunun Gyada

1. Soak the rice for at least 8 hours.
2. Soak the raw groundnuts (peanuts) for 3 hours.
3. Soak the tamarind in warm water till soft and extract the juice as shown in the video below. Set aside.
4. When soaked, blend the groundnuts with 400 mls of water and extract the groundnut milk as detailed in the Groundnut milk recipe.
5. Blend the rice with 200 mls of water and set aside.

Directions for making Kunun Gyada

1. Pour the groundnut milk into a pot and start cooking on medium heat. Stir it all the time so that it does not stick to the bottom of the pots. Lumps will also form if you do not stir it often.
2. When it boils, slowly add the rice blend while stirring at the same time.
3. When it boils again, add the tamarind juice.
4. Keep stirring and once it heats up again, it is ready to be served.

Serve Kunun Gyada hot/warm with Akara or drink on its own as a comfort drink *wink!.