Chadian Millet Balls with 3 Dipping Sauces (Peanut Sauce, Saka Saka Sauce & Harissa Lime Sauce)

So... let's continue to explore Chad shall we? As I mentioned in our first post about Chadian food, millet is a staple grain in Chad. Whilst trawling through websites for precious mentions of any form of Chadian food I cam across a lot of websites with the same regurgitated piece of information: in Chad they often eat millet balls which are dipped in sauces (if you want to see what I mean see these websites here, here and here). Yet, despite this piece of information being repeated on many different websites I couldn't find any recipes for this, pictures of this dish or any description of all of what these 'sauces' might be. So, essentially I was left to my own imagination in creating this dish. As a result I am sure that it isn't very authentic Chadian fare, however, it was most certainly inspired by my efforts to find a recipe or description of the elusive Chadian millet balls with 'sauces'.

This recipe uses whole hulled organic millet from my local co-cop, however, I gather that the more traditional Chadian millet balls would most likely be made of millet flour made into a paste. I like to keep my grains whole where possible, though, so I decided to make mine with whole millet. I also chose to bake them to make it more healthy, instead of frying them in oil. For my sauces I decided to go with: Chadian Peanut Sauce, Saka Saka Sauce (Spinach and Okra) and a Harissa Sauce with corriander and lime.

1) MILLET BALLS:

Ingredients
250g millet
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
5 tbsp millet flour
1/2 tsp salt
100g silken tofu
Olive oil spray

To Make
1. Cover the millet in plenty of boiling water and bring to the boil. Cook for 30-40 minutes or until cooked. Drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside to cool.
2. Toast the sunflower seeds in a frypan or oven for 1-2 minutes or until slightly browned (keep your eye on them as they burn really fast!).
3. Mix the millet, flour, sunflower seeds, salt, tofu and 1 tbsp water. Mix well into a thick pasty mix.
4. Take a bit of mix about the size of a walnut and press it gently into a ball (don't roll them too firmly or they will break up). Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Continue until all the mix is done.
5. Spray the millet balls with a bit of olive oil and bake at 180 degrees for about 30-35 minutes. (Every oven is different, so you might want to taste one when they come out to make sure they're not too doughy on the inside - if they are give them another 5 minutes).
6. Serve immediately with sauces (below).

2) SAUCES:

Peanut Sauce
Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 red chilli, finely chopped
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup shelled unsalted peanuts
3 tbsp tomato paste
1 1/2 cups water

To Make
1. Heat the olive oil in a small saucepan. Saute the onion and garlic until softened. Add the chilli.
2. Chop the peanuts very finely.
3. Add the nutmeg and peanuts to the onion and garlic. Sauté for a further few minutes.
4. Add the tomato paste and water. Bring to a simmer and simmer for 5-10 minutes or until the sauce is thickened.

Saka Saka Sauce
Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 green chilli, chopped
4-5 okra, chopped
5-6 leaves of spinach (silverbeet)
Salt to taste
2 cups water

To Make
1. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan and sauté the onion, garlic and chilli until the onion is softened.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for 5-10 minutes.
3. Process with a hand held blender or in a food processor until smooth.

Harissa sauce with Coriander and Lime
Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
1 tbsp Harissa spice mix (available in most health food or you can buy it online at Herbie's Spices)
1 tsp soy sauce
2/3 cup water
1/2 cup finely chopped coriander
The juice of 1 lime

To Make
1. Heat the olive oil in a small pan and sauté the onion until softened. Add the harissa spice mix and saute a further 2-3 minutes.
2. Stir in the soy sauce and water. Bring to a simmer for 3-4 minutes. Remove from the stove.
3. Add the coriander and lime juice. Serve.

Check out our other Chadian recipes as well: 

Chadian Breakfast Bouille

Chadian Sweet Potato Fritters

Chadian Irio (Mashed beans, potatoes and vegetables)
African Loz (Almond and Pistachio Bites of Amazingness)

Kachumbari 
Maharagwe