Flatbread · Fermented Sorghum
Kisra (Nubian Sorghum Flatbread)
Photo: Mohamed Elfatih Hamadien / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
The batter ferments overnight into a natural sourdough before it's ever cooked — and a single sheet takes only about 30 seconds to bake on the hot griddle.
Kisra is a paper-thin, tangy flatbread made from fermented sorghum batter, poured and spread across a hot metal griddle called a douka until it sets in seconds, much like Ethiopian injera but thinner and more delicate. Along the Nile around Dongola, it's still made daily by hand, almost always by women.
Why it's made this way: Sorghum has anchored Nile Valley farming since antiquity, and kisra's fermentation technique — developed long before refrigeration — turns that grain into a bread that keeps well and travels easily, making it the everyday bread of Sudan's northern river towns.
More from Sudan
Sudanese Coffee (Gahwa)
Ful Medames
Tamiya
Gurasa (Sudanese Flatbread)
Karkadé (Hibiscus Tea)
Zalabiya (Sudanese Fried Dough)
Part of World of Street Food — 3248 dishes from 118 countries.
Something wrong here? Tell us in the comments below.
Photo credits.