MAKING RAW PAP FROM SCRATCH
washing my grains
Pap is a very common meal in Nigeria. It is mostly made from corn but can also be made from millet, sorghum and a mixture of other grains as well. While not many of us can make the porridge successfully, even fewer of us can make it from scratch. Let me take you though the steps on how I process my own pap.
My grains, soaking in water
Firstly, I started by washing the grains. This particular pap is a mixture of white corn and millet so I measured out the quantity I'll be using, rinsed them to removed dust then soaked it in cold water for 2/3 days. Whether or not to change the soaking water is still a debate amongst us that process pap from scratch but personally I changed the water on the second day of soaking.
Taking it to the mill to grind
On the third day, I drained the water from the grains and washed it properly with a sieve to remove sand and other impurities. Then I took it to the local mill to grind. You can add ginger, cloves or any of your preferred spice before grinding but that's not my own method. I like to grind the spices differently and filter then add it to the pap when it's well settled. That way, I retain all of the taste and goodness in the spices. I use ginger and cloves only.
Ginger and cloves, I'll be adding later on
When I got home after grinding, I filtered the pap with a chiffon cloth. You can use a chiffon or muslin cloth anyone is fine. I scooped bit by bit, filtered, and rinsed the chaff with enough water to ensure I get all the milk out of it. After I was done with the whole batch, I filtered for the second time and left it aside to settle.
Filtering my pap
After leaving it for more than 12 hours, it separated as expected into two layers; thick raw pap at the bottom and almost clear water at the top. I poured the water at the top away, mixed in the water I got from my grinded spices (ginger and cloves), and at this point I have successfully processed my raw pap. Method of storage differs. As for me I scooped into plastic bowls and kept in my deep freezer. You can store yours in the bucket but make sure you pour water on top and change it everyday after it has settled, and you can dry it as well and grind into powder.
Final process of my pap,settling
Now that we have successfully made our raw pap, next time, we will discuss how to make the porridge/cereal itself. I'll see you in my next post, my friends.