In search of Tuwo Chinkafa
We found something better than pancakes.
Ekay and I are one the move. He owes me Tuwo Chinkafa and today is the day he pays up. This is to be my first experience with this northern delicacy and I am very eager.
We are headed towards Ekah Street. Walking by the University of Uyo fence, we are flanked by orange and white painted tricycles that make up a large part of Uyo’s transportation system. Merely walking through this part of Uyo always gives me the ‘big city’ feel, largely because of the crowd of persons that is always readily available here.
We get into Ekah Street and we walk down to the small Hausa settlement there, which seems to be an extension of what we have at Udi Street. We approach the Mallam on our left who runs a provision store and sells old newspapers for wrapping Suya too, and we ask where we can buy Tuwo Chinkafa and Kunu Aya. He laughs and says it is not possible as Tuwo would not be available at that time of the day.
At this moment, I can feel my little dream bubble of finally tasting Tuwo burst into a million tiny pieces. Ekay asks where we can buy Kunu and he points us towards Alhaja’s shop. I smile as I realize we would not entirely lose out on both counts.
Leaving his store and moving forward, Alhaja’s place is the first on the first street on our right. There are several ladies sitting around and the moment we approach, they ask us what we want. To clear our doubts, we ask for Tuwo first. Although it was expected, I am still disappointed when it is confirmed that Tuwo would not be available till evening.
Curiously, we glance around and see one of the women making some funny balls that remind me of Akara balls, although they are not half as brown. We ask what she’s making, and smilingly one of them tells us that what we are looking at is called Masa.
The moment I hear Masa, the first thing that comes to my mind is the bus stop in Lagos that is called Maza Maza. Ha-ha.
According to our very eager hostesses, Masa is made of rice, not just any rice, but Tuwo rice.. Actually, it is a blend of rice, potash, baking powder, yeast, sugar, and I think a bit of salt. The rice is soaked overnight with potash and finally washed and blended together with other ingredients. Next, the Masa frying pan (which I think reminds me of an egg crate, except it is wider and the holes are a lot more spaced and shallower) is heated over fire and lubricated with vegetable oil. You’ll then need to scoop the mixture with a hollow spoon into the holes in the pan, one spoon for each hole. After they have coagulated, you flip them over and allow them to turn into a golden cream color. There you go. Masa is ready.
It can be eaten on its own as a snack (with sprinkled sugar or Suya) or as a staple (with soup or stew). Ekay and I have it as a snack without sugar and it still tasted just great. No, great isn’t good enough. It is amazing. Masa has the fluffiness of well creamed pancakes and the size of wide Akara balls. It is a cross between pancakes and Puff-Puff (those round brown balls made of flour and fried in hot oil) Eating them, you’d forget they were made of rice. I was already thinking what they would taste like dripping with honey. Delicious. What street food wasn’t?
While we are enjoying the culinary lesson, we struggle over the first round of Masa we had bought, much to the amusement of the women around us. In the midst of fighting over hot Masa, we remember that we had actually intended to buy Kunu. Kunu Aya (tigernuts drink) wasn’t available, but Kunu Zaki (millet blend) was. Hot and freshly made. Together with Masa, heaven became a feeling.
Now, we’ve made acquaintances with these women. While Ekay and I are devouring hot Masa and delicious Kunu, they make friendly conversations with us and tell us more about many northern delicacies that we are cannot wait to try. Oh, and they explain why Tuwo wasn’t available: because of the Ramadan fast.
After bidding farewell, we stop at the suya market and Ekay buys Suya that we struggle over as well. We are beyond excited.
In the search for Tuwo Chinkafa, we found something better than pancakes. We found a rather filling fusion of pancakes and Puff-Puff.
Our search for Tuwo has just been suspended temporarily. Ekay will still pay up.
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