The lakh is an African dish based on millet, called since the 17th century by some West African countries, like Mali and Mauritania, with the name “sanglé”.
It is a type of millet porridge (soungouf) accompanied by sweetened curdled milk.
Lakh sow, its version with cream (sow) is particularly consumed during events like baptisms or the end of Ramadan.
The Ngalakh, with peanut paste and pain de singe flour (bouye, the fruit of the African baobab) is a specialty instead associated with Easter.
It can be prepared with millet flour reduced to grains (lakh araw) or crushed millet (lakh sankhal).
Other ingredients are sometimes added to the millet base like vanilla essence, raisins, butter, or banana (sliced).
It is served both hot and cold.
The recipe is dedicated to the song “L’opportunità” a single by Pupo, Paolo Belli, and Youssou N’Dour, a Senegalese singer and politician, presented at the Festival di Sanremo 2009.
The song, written by Pupo and Mogol, deals with the social theme of the integration of peoples within their own society.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Inexpensive
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 4 people
- Cooking methods: Boiling
- Cuisine: African
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 8 1/2 cups water
- 1.1 lbs millet
- 1 pinch salt
- 2 3/4 tbsps butter
- to taste nutmeg
- 2.2 lbs curd (or ricotta)
- 2 tbsps vanilla essence
- 1 cup cups heavy cream
- 5 1/4 oz sweetened condensed milk
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- to taste orange blossom essence (optional)
Steps
Once the water has come to a boil, add salt and millet.
Cook for 30 minutes.
At the end, add butter, sugar, nutmeg, and raisins.
Mix the curd or ricotta with vanilla, cream, condensed milk, powdered sugar, and orange blossom essence (optional).
Once the millet has cooled, pour the cream on top.
“L’opportunità” was one of the finalist songs (elimination edition) of the 59th Sanremo Music Festival, won by Marco Carta with the song “La forza mia”, and in the duet night held on Friday, February 20, it was performed by the trio of singers along with Gianni Morandi.
The song ranked 10th at the event.
That edition of the Sanremo Music Festival was held from February 17 to 21, 2009, hosted by Paolo Bonolis, who had previously hosted the 2005 edition, assisted by Luca Laurenti and with the participation of various co-hosts over the five nights.
FAQ (Questions and Answers)
Who is Youssou N’Dour?
Since April 2012, he has been a minister adviser to Macky Sall.
He has contributed to launching a popular Senegalese music genre known as mbalax internationally, combining modern instruments like the guitar with traditional instruments such as the sabar.What is curdled milk or curd?
A product obtained by coagulation, with rennet, of pure milk, whole or skimmed.
It is an intermediate result in cheese preparation, obtained by adding rennet to warmed milk.
Here you can find an article on how to prepare it.
