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Kuli Kuli

Also known as Kuli Kuli (Northern Groundnut Cakes)

Kuli Kuli is Nigeria's most beloved Northern street snack — a hard, crunchy, intensely nutty snack made from freshly ground roasted peanuts from which most oil has been extracted, then mixed with spices and fried into various shapes. The extraction of groundnut oil before frying is what makes Kuli Kuli unique — the resulting product is much less oily than expected and produces an extraordinary depth of concentrated roasted nutty flavour.

Kuli Kuli, Nigerian cooking

Ingredients

  • 3 big cups of raw groundnuts (peanuts), roasted and skins removed
  • 1 teaspoon of ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon of ground Cameroon pepper
  • Half a teaspoon of ground cloves
  • 1 teaspoon of salt
  • Vegetable oil for deep-frying

Method

  1. 01

    Roasting and Skinning. Dry-roast peanuts for 8 to 10 minutes until golden. Cool. Rub skins off.

  2. 02

    Grinding. Blend roasted skinned peanuts until a smooth, oily paste forms — like natural peanut butter.

  3. 03

    Extracting the Groundnut Oil. Transfer paste to a large bowl. Knead firmly for 5 to 8 minutes. Oil will begin to separate and pool. Pour off and collect this extracted oil. Continue kneading until the paste feels significantly drier. This extraction is the defining step.

  4. 04

    Seasoning and Shaping. Add all spices and salt to the de-oiled peanut paste. Knead together. Shape into rings, sticks, balls or flat discs.

  5. 05

    Frying. Heat the reserved extracted groundnut oil (plus additional vegetable oil if needed) to moderate-to-hot heat. Fry shaped Kuli Kuli for 5 to 8 minutes per batch, turning regularly, until golden-brown and very hard.

  6. 06

    Testing. Allow to cool completely. Properly made Kuli Kuli should be extremely hard, completely dry and intensely crunchy.

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