The month of Ramadan lasts for a little over a week. In that context, I'd like to share another recipe with you – this time a dessert. It belongs to a category I didn't even know existed until a few months ago, but one that immediately captivated me. Since starting my food blog, I've been discovering wonderful new dishes every day, especially from West Africa. I'm constantly reminded of the culinary treasures that African cuisine has to offer.
Today I'd like to introduce one of these treasures: Thiacry . This dessert consists mainly of millet granules or millet couscous, which is made from a mixture of millet flour and water. Ready-made versions can be found in many African grocery stores.
Preparing millet couscous is similar to preparing wheat couscous: it is first steamed, then cooled, and then mixed with milk, sweetened condensed milk, or yogurt. Depending on taste, dried fruits such as raisins, shredded coconut, or spices can be added. As an alternative to regular yogurt, you can Kossam (West African yogurt) or Greek yogurt.
Thiacry with cherry compote – a creative variation
As so often happens, I initially wanted to prepare Thiacry according to the traditional recipe. But during preparation, some new ideas came to me – for example, adding a fruity topping to the dessert. Mango would have been ideal, and another tropical fruit would have worked well too. But when I looked in my freezer, I only found frozen cherries from the last harvest. So I thought: Why not?
The next question was how best to use the frozen cherries. After a brief consideration, I decided on a cherry compote . Thus, the original Thiacry recipe became a creative variation: Thiacry with cherry compote as a topping .
A dessert steeped in tradition and diversity
Thiacry (in Senegal) or Dèguè (in Côte d'Ivoire) is a traditional West African dessert made from sweet millet couscous. It is widespread in many West African countries, particularly Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire. Each region has its own slight variations, which makes the dessert especially interesting.
I hope this recipe will give you some new inspiration – whether for Ramadan or simply for a special dessert with an exotic touch.
And for download…
Thiacry/Dèguè - West African dessert with cherry compote
Ingredients
For the Thiacry
- 100g millet couscous
- 250 ml Greek yogurt
- 2 tbsp sweetened condensed milk
- 1 sachet of vanilla sugar
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 few drops of lemon/vanilla flavoring
- approx. 150 ml water
For the grits
- approx. 200 g cherries (thawed)
- approx. 50 g sugar
- 1 tbsp potato flour
Instructions
Preparation of the cherry compote
- Remove the juice from the thawed cherries, put it in a pot, mix with potato flour and sugar, and bring to a boil while stirring constantly
- Then add the cherries, mix well, cook over medium heat for about 2 minutes, and let cool
Preparation Thiacry
- Place the Thiacry in a bowl, cover lightly with water and microwave for about 5 minutes.
- Alternatively: Lightly cover the Thiacry with hot water, cover and let it soak for about 10 minutes.
- Remove the cooked couscous from the microwave, add a piece of butter, mix well and set aside to cool.
- In a large bowl, combine yogurt, vanilla sugar, condensed milk, and lemon or vanilla flavoring and mix thoroughly. Add the cooled millet couscous and fold in well.
- Serve the finished thiacry in small glasses or bowls, add the cherry compote topping and enjoy!
- Alternatively, garnish with fresh berries or other fruits and enjoy cold!
