Pre-Harvest Treat

On Wednesday this week – I went out to the village for a baby naming ceremony.  This was the home of one of the village committee elders.  Almost every time I am at his home, he gifts me with a chicken or guinea fowl. 

This week, he gifted me with a special treat … pre-harvest of the millet fields, the Fulani love to eat “mumri”.  This is the first millet of the season – usually toasted over a fire, and for a special treat – eaten with milk and honey or sugar.

As I was leaving, Hamani sent a few of the young men into the fields to pick out some fresh millet stalks for me. 

(doh …. photobombed!!)

By the time these men finished gathering millet for me – I had twice this amount in my truck!!  They brought another 3 small bundles this size!  When I returned home, I re-gifted a few bundles to my night guard and my neighbour’s night guard to feed their families this treat as well.

But today …. I went to the neighbourhood corner store and bought some charcoal.  Then, my guard, my neighbour’s guard, one of their friends on the street and I, proceeded to cook our treat!!

Getting the charcoal ready …. fanning the flames!:

Once the coal is burning in little flames, then the millet stalks are roasted over the small fire … it reminds me a bit of a campfire with hotdogs or roasting marshmallows …. turning the stalk slowly so that the kernels roast and pop. 

It even sounds a bit like popcorn – and some kernels pop out white, while others just brown and turn crunchy!!

Once it is toasted, the kernels are shorn off into a bowl – using a piece of the millet stalk formed into a v-shape tong …. I helped with this job!!  My hand was black by the time I was finished and the kernels were quite hot.  The Djarma guy pictured above was much more accomplished at this than was I – a lot of my kernels spilled on the ground!!

We ate some of this toasted like popcorn (minus the butter and salt!!) … but then I went inside to make some milk and grab honey so we could eat this in all its treaty-goodness!

This was definitely a yummy and fun treat to have received from the village! I even have some left to throw into my next batch of granola!!