Millet is a staple crop grown here. Here, it is called coos.After it is taken from the field and the first husk is removed it looks like this.

This is the form I found it in when I bought it in the market. I decided I would try to make pancakes with the flour from it. We had them at the place we stayed in when we were in Mali and I really liked them. Even though I don't have a recipe to go by I am just going to wing it. So, Friday I got this home and asked Jalika, what do I do with it now? And in Mandinka and some English I got to where I had a little more than a clue on what to do. We washed it a couple of times and then she told me to let it sit and then we will pound it in the mortar and pestle. I was thinking, I want make these pancakes on Saturday morning....How long is this going to take? How long to I let it soak? Won’t pounding it when its wet not be effective? Ndea (our host mom) came over to explain it again.....ok, I think I understand but I still don’t think I will be able to make pancakes in the morning....But to be more clear I went to ask the better English speaker FatouMata to explain it to me in again!I let a portion of the millet in the bowl over night to soak after washing it a few times. And high on uncertainty I went to bed. In the morning, I woke up and got started on it right away. I poured off the water and tried to start pounding it in the mortar....And soon enough everyone in the compound had their ears pricking up, thinking, what is that? Is that Borry pounding?! And I had a whole slew of Gambian women in the house. Needless to say, I wasn’t doing it right and they just kept asking why I hadn’t taken it to the mill?

Come to find out I needed to let it dry before I pounded it. So I had to put it in the sun for a while and then later in the early evening I started pounding it. After my arm was aching I put it through a sifter (locally made from bamboo and window screen).

After moving it around the surface of the sifter I got it to where only larger pieces of the millet were on the top of the screen. I looked underneath in my bowl and I have only a few dustings of coos powder (or flour).
The portion that was left on the top I put back into the mortar and wailed on it again. I went through this routine about ten more times. I looked in my bowl and I now have about a….. cup of coos powder....
I was just thinking Geesh, this is a lot of work for pancakes! But I also couldn't help feeling very proud and excited that I did the process. And I went out to find Andy to show him proudly our bounty.
Maybe tomorrow I will get to make pancakes...
Maybe tomorrow I will send Alhagie to get the rest of my millet ground in the machine!