Thiakry

Thiakry is a chilled sweet enjoyed in Senegal and elsewhere in West Africa. Fine cereal grains remain suspended in white fermented milk, so the smooth, sweet milk and the texture of steamed millet grains are enjoyed together. In Mali and elsewhere it is also called dégué; neither its name nor its ingredients are confined to a single country.

Making grains from flour rather than boiling whole kernels

The grains used in thiakry are millet flour formed into small granules. This differs from methods that cook whole kernels as they are, and the name thiakry is used not only for the finished sweet but also for these grains themselves.

The millet couscous is steamed, a small amount of butter is mixed in while it is still hot, and the grains are thoroughly loosened. This step keeps the grains from forming a single mass and readies them to be dispersed through the milk. Rather than dissolving flour in milk to make a uniform porridge, keeping the grains distinct means that every spoonful of milk also brings the texture of the grains.

Fine cereal grains known as thiakry. Photo: Fanyavizuri, 2013-10-11, location unknown. Original image / CC BY-SA 3.0. Downscaled version from the source; no further modifications.

An example of steaming millet-flour grains and adding butter, raisins and grated coconut. A photo showing 4 scenes side by side. Photo: T.K. Naliaka, 2014-11-24, location unknown (Senegalese cuisine). Original image / CC BY-SA 4.0. A single image in which the original publisher combined 4 scenes. Used at original size, with no further modifications made here.

Sweetened, yet the fermented milk keeps its tang

The milk component is basically fermented milk or yogurt with sugar added. In some versions, fromage blanc or yogurt is mixed with evaporated milk and cream and scented with vanilla, nutmeg and orange blossom water. The grains are combined with the milk prepared in this way, placed in bowls and chilled.

In a recette (recipe: the proportions of ingredients and the method) that starts from homemade yogurt, milk with added powdered milk is heated, cooled, mixed with yogurt and kept warm to ferment. The preparation steps differ between combining store-bought dairy products and making it from milk. Adding raisins or fruit brings pieces of fruit of a different size from the fine grains, along with their sweetness.

An afternoon snack and the table after sunset

In Senegal it is eaten as an afternoon snack or an after-meal sweet, and as one of the dishes on the table for breaking the fast after sunset during Ramadan. The chilled milk and steamed grains can be combined just before eating without using heat. It is not a sweet limited to the month of fasting; it has a place both in daily life and at religious observances.

The cereals and milk available, together with household preferences, produce differences in what the grains are made from, the richness of the milk and the flavorings. Sweet yogurt with cinnamon or vanilla also appears on Senegalese tables when guests are welcomed.

The grains used as an ingredient also circulate in neighboring countries. In Mali, too, thiakry/dégué is popular as a sweet combining millet with fermented milk or yogurt, and the grains are traded across borders in West Africa. The spread of the sweet involves not only how it is eaten but also the movement of its ingredients.

In Senegalese cities there are also vendors of fermented milk known as Nekh Soow. These vendors buy grains from women who process cereals and from cooperative enterprises, then combine sugar and fermented milk in front of customers and sell it. Besides households making it from the grains up, there is also a supply chain in which processing and selling are handled by different people.

Gambian thiakry in a bag. Grains are scattered through the white milk. Photo: Atamari, 2007-06-29, The Gambia (details unknown). Original image / CC BY-SA 3.0. Downscaled version from the source; no further modifications.

Trying fonio and cowpeas

There are also examples using crops other than millet. At an April 2021 event on eating locally grown crops, researchers from the Senegalese Agricultural Research Institute and cooks served fonio thiakry and cowpea thiakry. Crops that could replace millet are also being tried as ingredients to be processed into grains and combined with milk.

Partnerships with farmers behind commercialization, and serving it abroad

Manufacturing it continuously as a product requires a stable supply of cereal. In 2003, the company Mamelles Jaboot began producing thiakry as a yogurt with cereal. In addition to milk, continuing to source millet of consistent quality became a challenge, and partnerships with farmers became important. A factory in the city that processes milk and the farmers who grow millet were connected through a single product.

This dish has also reached Teranga, a restaurant in New York. The thiakry of chef Pierre Thiam, featured in 2019 reporting, pairs millet and yogurt with hibiscus cooked in sugar. The method of combining cold milk with cereal grains remains even when the finishing touches and the place where it is eaten change.

Glossary