West Africa · Street food

Dan Wake (Boiled Cowpea and Cassava Flour Dumplings)

Name: Dan Wake (Boiled Cowpea and Cassava Flour Dumplings)
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Niger
Ingredients: 200 g brown cowpea flour (black-eyed pea flour); 100 g fine cassava flour (substitute: tapioca starch); 25 g kuka powder / dried baobab fruit leaf powder (substitute: dried ground okra powder); 5 g potassium carbonate potash / kanwa, finely ground; 180 ml warm water; 60 ml unrefined groundnut oil, gently warmed; 25 g Yaji spice mix (suya pepper blend of ground kuli-kuli, ginger, chili, garlic); 100 g hard-boiled eggs, quartered; 80 g red onion, thinly sliced; 120 g fresh cucumber, diced; 100 g plum tomatoes, thinly sliced; 4 g fine sea salt

Bouncy, bite-sized cowpea and cassava dumplings tossed in seasoned groundnut oil, spicy Yaji suya pepper, and crisp raw vegetables.

Cook mode

dan-wakestreet-foodhausadumplingscowpea

The story

Dan Wake, literally translating to 'son of the bean' in Hausa, is a legendary street food fixture across southern Niger and northern Nigeria, eaten as a rapid, protein-rich lunch. Street-side women vendors deftly drop rounds of dark batter directly from their fingertips into boiling caldrons over open wood embers. A vital technical component is the addition of baobab fruit pulp powder (kuka) and alkaline potash (kanwa), which react synergistically to give these dumplings their signature grey-green color and uniquely firm, springy chew.

Checking your membership…

Cook hands-free

Cook this next

Niger·Street food

Kilishi (Thin Sun-Dried Spiced Beef Jerky)

Paper-thin sheets of beef sun-dried, saturated in a spiced peanut and chili paste, and flash-grilled over glowing acacia coals.

1 hHard

Niger·Breakfast

Masa (Fermented Rice and Millet Griddle Cakes)

Golden, cloud-soft fermented rice and millet griddle cakes with a crisp exterior, traditionally cooked in cast-iron dimpled pans.

12 h 25 minMedium

Niger·Breakfast

Koko da Kosai (Spiced Fermented Millet Porridge with Bean Fritters)

Silky, ginger-spiced fermented pearl millet porridge served alongside crisp, golden, pillowy black-eyed pea fritters.

1 h 30 minHard

Niger·Street food

Kuli-Kuli (Deep-Fried Pressed Peanut Cakes)

Crunchy, golden spirals of defatted peanut paste seasoned with ginger, chili, and dried garlic, fried in their own extracted groundnut oil.

1 hMedium