Fonde (Millet Porridge with Dried Fruit)

Fonde is one of my favorite porridges. I have had it for breakfast, as a snack or even for dinner sometimes when I am too tired to cook or had such a major lunch that dinner becomes an afterthought. It has a certain comfort food quality to it. Maybe soft and warm foods take us back to childhood. In my case, I think the texture mirrors that of one of my favorite foods as a baby: Cerelac, the original one, not all the ones with fancy flavors. I have to confess that I continued to eat Cerelac well into a certain age range that shall remain undisclosed.

Fonde is made from millet flour mixed with a bit of water and rolled into tiny granules by hand. God Bless our mothers who sat under mango trees rolling fonde or picking burnt grains from rice or doing one of the myriad processes in the African kitchen that take a lifetime. Nowadays, we thank those who saw and seized the opportunity to dry and package fonde granules. The dried granules keep very well, especially if you pop them in the freezer. I usually buy a bunch of bags when I travel to Dakar.


Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups of fonde granules
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1/4 cup of lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons of salt
• 1 1/2 liters of water
• A handful of dried raisins and apricots or any other dried fruit available

Preparation

1. Bring water to a boil. Note: Bringing the water to a boil first is important here since the granules will dissolve into mush if the water is not at the right temperature.
2. Slowly add the granules while stirring. They will tend to stick to each other a little so keep stirring and separating.
3. Reduce the heat and let it simmer for about 30 mns but do check in every few minutes as fonde requires a bit of supervision in order not to stick and/or dry out. Even though I have a certain amount of water in the recipe, please feel free to add a bit of water if it gets too thick while cooking.
4. It is cooked when the granules puff up (a bit like couscous does) and you obtain the porridge consistency you would seek in oatmeal.
5. Sprinkle the dried fruit on the hot porridge. The heat will soften them.
6. Serve warm.