Ingredients
Millet pellets
- 250 gfine millet flour
- about 120 ml water
- ½ tspsalt
Soured milk
- 1 litrelait caillé or thick soured milk, cold
- 2 tbspsugar, or to taste
- a pinch of salt
Directions
- Put the millet flour in a wide bowl with the salt. Sprinkle over water a little at a time with one hand while raking the flour in circles with the other, so the flour gathers into small pellets the size of couscous grains rather than a dough.
- Keep adding water in small amounts and keep raking. You want most of the flour turned into loose pellets; press any large lumps apart between your fingers as they form.
- Sieve the pellets to separate them by size, returning the loose flour to the bowl and repeating until nearly all of it has come together.
- Steam the pellets in a lined steamer or a couscoussier over boiling water for 15 minutes, until they are cooked through and no longer taste raw.
- Tip them onto a tray, break up any clumps with a fork and let them cool completely. Warm pellets dropped into cold milk go gluey.
- Stir the cooled pellets into the cold soured milk with the sugar and a pinch of salt, and let it stand for 10 minutes so the millet softens and takes up some of the milk.
- Serve cold from a bowl with a spoon.
Technique
- The raking motion is the whole skill and it takes a couple of goes to get. Too much water at once and you have dough; too little and the flour never gathers.
- Cool the pellets fully. This is the difference between gappal and porridge.
- Sour milk is essential — sweet milk makes something bland. If your soured milk is mild, leave it a few hours longer before using it.
Substitutions
- Fine semolina or couscous in place of the millet, which is quicker and gives a similar texture.
- Sorghum flour, which is used interchangeably across the Sahel.
Variations
- Dèguè is the same idea with larger pellets and often a little nutmeg or vanilla.
- Some households stir in crushed baobab fruit for extra sourness.
History
A Fulani herders’ preparation of Burkina Faso that joins the household’s soured milk to millet from the fields.
Frequently asked questions
What is Gappal?
Gappal is a fermented & pickled from Burkina Faso: pellets of millet dough stirred into fermented cow’s milk and eaten with a spoon. A Fulani herders’ preparation of Burkina Faso that joins the household’s soured milk to millet from the fields.
How long does Gappal take to make?
Gappal takes 30 min plus the milk soured a day ahead of preparation and 20 min of cooking. The recipe makes serves 4. It is rated easy to make.
What can I substitute in Gappal?
Yes, within limits. Fine semolina or couscous in place of the millet, which is quicker and gives a similar texture. Sorghum flour, which is used interchangeably across the Sahel.
What is the most important thing to get right in Gappal?
Put the millet flour in a wide bowl with the salt. Sprinkle over water a little at a time with one hand while raking the flour in circles with the other, so the flour gathers into small pellets the size of couscous grains rather than a dough.
