The sight of the young ladies hawking cereal drinks including Kunu Aya in the morning at Oshodi bus stop in Lagos reminded me that I have not featured all the nutritious and refreshing Nigerian Cereal drinks on the blog.
Today I am sharing Kunu Aya, one of the simpler drinks to make. Out of a score of 1-10 in terms of ease this will score 6. It is the squeezing out of the milk from the Tigernut and coconut that takes some time. I am looking forward to visiting Kaduna or Kano very soon to get the tricks of the trade and how Kunu is done locally.
Besides drinking Kunu Aya I found that this is a milk that can be served with cereals. It was so good I could easily replace this with regular cow’s milk in my cereal. Kunu Aya is a very interesting milk for vegetarians.
Aya is Tiger nut. I have made some amazing desserts with this nut and I am looking to show many other recipes with Tigernut. Tiger nut actually has a lot of good carbohydrates. When cooked a little bit it solidifies almost like maize pap.
When meals are not cooked I am careful not to buy on the streets because of water borne diseases. This is my main reason for making something like Kunu Aya at home. When buying ingredients for making this Kunu in a northern market you will be sold some strawberry like flavouring but as I was nut sure of its quality I decided to use vanilla. I went for vanilla essence as this is readily available in shops. Enjoy!
Recipe for Kunu Aya (makes 4 1/2, 60cl bottles)
7 cups Tigernuts
3 cups dry Dates
1 whole Coconut
3 teaspoons Vanilla Essence
Method
- Wash Tigernuts to completely remove all dirt. Washing will require a lot of scrubbing. The washing will require several change of water.
- Wash and deseed the dates. Break and carve out the coconut flesh.
- Grind Tigernut, dates and coconut with 3 60 cl bottles of water.
- Sieve first with the larger hole sieve, then sieve again with a smaller hole sieve, lastly if you want the milk very fine , pass it through a muslin cloth.
- You can add pieces of chopped dates and roasted coconut flakes to the drink.
- Chill the drink and use as needed.
Tip: The Tiger nut is quite hard so I blended the whole mix at my neighbourhood mill. If you are making smaller quantities you can blend the mix at home using your domestic blender but you may need to soak the tiger nut and date for some time to soften.
Beautiful, my mum makes this drink for us. It’s so nutritious. Can’t wait to try it with boli n pepper pomo. Thanks dear for the recipe.
Hi, Sarahaos. The Boli and Ponmo is to die for its so yum.
I have tried this before and the milk had a nasty after taste, couldn’t figure it out and i wonder if i got nuts that weren’t nice cos everyone goes on about how great this milk is. I’m still wondering but would love to give it a go again. Maybe go with the fresh tigernuts as opposed to the dry ones. What markets can i get the fresh nuts from as the mallams i see hawking them in small quantities always have just the dry ones.
Hello Chinye. I felt the same way you did about the hype and then I tried making the Kunu and now I am hooked. The Tigernut sold by the mallams is quite okay. It may just be that you used moldy nuts. The challenge with Tigernut is that in the south it goes mouldly pretty fast.I trust you will have a good result this time around
yummy. did you have to soak the tigernut ma?and the dates, and did a simple kitchen blender do the job?
Hello Ronke,I did not need to soak the Tigernut as I was ground it at my neighborhood mill. If you are using the domestic blender then you may need to soak as its quite hard
Tigernuts and dates – my 2 favourite things…..
I have tasted this in the north but noticed ginger in it and really like the spicy feel.
Thank u 4ur analysis. Bt u didn’t giv the health benefits.
I have prepare it severally. It doesn’t have the milky colour, its kind of brownish. Maybe it’s because of the dried tigernut. Please which is preferable fresh or dry tigernut?
Hello Chioma. Yes the dry one could be brown. But again if you wash it very well it may not be brown. But also the color is not quite white . Using the fresh tigernut is okay as well.
Also note that the dates can affect the colour of the whole product..
Dear Onyii. Yes I know that the dates can affect the color of the Kunu aya. thanks.
which water is best to do it hot or worm or cold water
is it good to add powdered milk again while grinding do you grind it all together or different then mix
Hello David, I grind everything and sieve. You may wish to add dairy milk but I think it takes away from the tiger nut taste.Besides the tigernut and coconut bring their milk to the drink.
Please can you tell us the nutritional value of it and I’d adding ginger to it OK?
Please can you tell us the nutritional value of it and If adding ginger to it is OK?
what about d boiling stuff
I made tiger nuts drink but the milk settled under the bottle while water was on top. What could have gone wrong with my juicing?
Hello Jennifer. If you refrigerated properly there is nothing wrong. Usually the starch settles to the base and you have to shake before drinking. But be sure to keep constantly chilled but not for more than 3 days. I hope this helps
Pls can dry ginger be added to it before grinding
Hello Kee. You can use dry ginger for your Kunu Aya.
Please I really want to know how long will I boil it. Will it still be milky and great. Please I want to get it this time. Thank you
Hello Obymma. You only need to boil for 1-2 minutes. If you go beyond this the milk will start to look like ogi.
I thought Kunu Aya isn’t suppose to be boiled. Please am I suppose to sieve with warm or hot or cold water, when sieving the kunu.
Hello Chioma. I find that heating it up a bit gives you a slightly thicker drink. But you can do without heating it up.
You don’t boil kunu aya please
Hi Gimbiyah. Yes originally you don’t. I guess where tigernut is cheap and easy to find you can use plenty to achieve a nice drink.Tigernut is starch so I find that slight cooking gives a nicer thicker drink. I have used tigernut quite a bit in experimenting with several dessert dishes so I know different ways to handle it. You can search my site for some of them. Besides I also like to kill some germs in the drink. Thanks for your comments
I tried the Tigernut milk but didn’t really turn out well.. They all fermented or rather tasted a bit fermented before I could finish bottling it. I had to allow it to cool a bit cause of the heating
… ?.. Pls what did I do wrong
Hello Obymma. Sometimes the mallams sell fermented tigernut particularly when they are fresh, those ones they sprinkle water on. If you are not sure, it is better to use the shrivelled dry tigernuts . I will advise you use these dried ones. As they are very hard , they can ruin your domestic blender. So you can wash the dried nuts and take to your neighborhood miller but let them not mill is very fine so seiving is easy. I hope it turns out well for you.
Hello Ma, I finally got it, it taste sooo great. This time around I didn’t heat up and I used dry nuts. It’s soo milky and my hubby is on his 2nd bottle already…I’m soo happy I finally got it Thanks alot
Dear Obymma. I am so glad you were able to make it. Thanks for being part of my food journey.
When I prepare kunu at a, the coconut tends to segregate from the Tiger nut. Please can I use soya bean instead of the coconut?
Hello Chioma. I have not had your experience. I use fresh coconut. You may want to use soya beans milk but this will affect the taste . I also do not know how soya beans reacts with Tigernuts.
please ma are we to seive it with ordinary water or warm water pls i want ur reply ma
Hello Patience, you can use warm or cold water.
Thank you for this recipe. Pls I want to know, after using the 3 60cl bottles of water do I still need any other water to get the quantity I need. Thank you
Dear Odika. Additional water will make the milk more watery but its up to you. Tnx
pls ma what is date? i don’t know it.
Hi VICKEL. The Mallams in the market that sell tigernuts also sell dates. ask them for dabino.
After grinding the 3 items and without gifting it can you eat like that?
Dear Amaku, I am not sure you will like it. It will be very chaffy
I got the whole process right and enjoyed the drink the first day only. Kept it refrigerated and to my surprise Its fermented by day 2. Can I still drink this? Can I freeze and eat it up later as I made much to last a week? TIA
Hi, I am sorry i am reverting now. Of course the drink will not taste well after fermentation. It actually best consumed with three day in a fridge with constant electricity.
Thanks for responding. I discovered my little one had messed with my refrigerator temperature control at the time, such a bad timing! Thanks and well done on here
thanks for the info. Please how do i deseed the dates if it is in large quantity?