Hausa Food: Eating Tuwo Alkama and Miyan Taushe in Kano

If you’re like me, you may have grown up hearing tuwo all the time but not knowing what it was. I’m sure some people here are thinking, “how can you not know what tuwo is?”. Mehn there are so many basic things you’d be shocked that we don’t know about each other.

So for those who don’t know, tuwo is basically swallow in Hausa. And the different types are named based on what it is made of, like tuwo shinkafa is rice swallow, tuwo masara is corn swallow. So it would be like us calling eba, tuwo garri. I’m sure you get it now.

While in Kano, I had an interview with a historian who I asked what the real traditional Hausa food was. He replied saying it is tuwo dawa (guinea corn) with miyan kuka. Today, Hausa people eat different types of tuwo but tuwo dawa is what is still eaten in Hausa villages. Miyan Kuka is a soup made from the leaves of the baobab tree. In Northern Nigeria, that is one of the most common trees.

In Kano was my second time having tuwo shinkafa (rice). The first time was just a few months ago. I ate it how the people from Illorin eat it, with gbegiri and stew. I liked the tuwo shinkafa but after trying the two alkali (wheat), I definitely preferred it. The two shinkafa is the white one made of white rice and two alkama is the second brownish one. The texture is similar to amala so I looooved it. The soup is miyan taushe with chicken.

When I originally wrote this post for Instagram, I had to ask what miyan taushe was made of because I did not know. But my people schooled me and let me know that the soup is made from pumpkin and spinach. Even though at the time when I ate it I didn’t know, I still really enjoyed it. That soup was sooo delicious.

I posted a reel of me eating the meal on instagram. You can watch it here https://www.instagram.com/p/CPBBJsblb2_/

I really want to eat it again soon. Have you eaten miyan taushe before?