Lamugin

Ingredients

Base

• 300 gmillet flour
• 2 litreswater

Spice

• 150 gfresh ginger
• 1 tbspcloves
• 1 tspblack peppercorns
• 1pod calabash nutmeg, optional
• 2dried chillies, optional

To finish

• 200 gsugar, to taste
• juice of 1 lemon
• evaporated milk, optional

To serve

• ice
• plastic sachets or bottles

Directions

1. Blend the fresh ginger, cloves, peppercorns and calabash nutmeg with about 500 ml of the water into a rough pulp.
2. Blend the spices hard and long. Ginger holds its heat in the fibre, and a coarse grind gives a weak drink however long it steeps.
3. Leave the spice pulp to steep for at least 2 hours, and longer for a stronger drink.
4. Steeping time is the dial. Two hours gives a pleasant warmth and overnight gives the sharp, throat-catching version sold from carts.
5. Strain the spice liquid through a fine cloth, wringing it out hard, and set it aside.
6. Mix the millet flour with about 500 ml of cold water into a smooth, lump-free slurry.
7. Slake the flour in cold water first. Millet flour tipped into hot water seizes into lumps that no whisking will break up.
8. Bring the remaining water to a rolling boil.
9. Pour the slurry into the boiling water in a steady stream, whisking hard the whole time.
10. Cook it for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring constantly, until it thickens slightly and loses the raw floury taste.
11. It should stay thin enough to drink, not thicken into porridge. Lamugin is a drink and koko is the porridge, and the difference is largely how much flour goes in.
12. Take it off the heat and let it cool completely.
13. Stir in the strained spice liquid, the sugar and the lemon juice.
14. Add the spice liquid only once it is cool. Boiled, the ginger loses its bite and the cloves turn medicinal.
15. Taste and balance it: it should be sharply gingery first, sweet second, with the cloves behind both.
16. Chill it thoroughly and serve very cold, with evaporated milk stirred in if you want it.
17. Shake or stir before pouring, because the millet settles as it stands.
18. It is sold across Ghana in knotted plastic sachets and chilled bottles, from cool boxes at roadsides and lorry parks.

Technique

• Strength varies enormously between vendors and some versions are genuinely fierce.
• It is closely related to Hausa koko, which is the thicker fermented porridge from the same grain.
• Calabash nutmeg, wɛdeɛ aba, gives a distinctive warm note and is worth finding.

Substitutions

• Sorghum or maize flour in place of millet.
• Ground dried ginger, using far less, though fresh is much better.

Variations

• With evaporated milk, as a richer version.
• Without the flour at all, as a plain spiced ginger drink.
• With more chilli, which is the northern preference.

History

A northern Ghanaian drink closely related to the millet waters of the Sahel, now bottled and sold nationwide.

Frequently asked questions

What is Lamugin?

Lamugin is a drink from Ghana: chilled millet-flour drink sharp with ginger and cloves, sold in sachets. A northern Ghanaian drink closely related to the millet waters of the Sahel, now bottled and sold nationwide.

How long does Lamugin take to make?

Lamugin takes 20 min plus 2 hr steeping of preparation and 20 min of cooking. The recipe makes about 2 litres. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Lamugin?

Yes, within limits. Sorghum or maize flour in place of millet. Ground dried ginger, using far less, though fresh is much better.

What is the most important thing to get right in Lamugin?

Pour the slurry into the boiling water in a steady stream, whisking hard the whole time.