Recipe
🥤 DRINK
Zoom Koom
A chilled, spiced millet cooler, strained silky-smooth and brightened with ginger, tamarind, and pineapple, Burkina Faso's traditional drink of welcome.
Burkinabè · easy · serves 6
prep 25 min · cook 0 min
~209 cal · 3g protein · 47g carbs · 1g fat · 3g fiber · 25g sugars · 0g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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AI-generated illustration
Zoom koom is the traditional welcome drink of Burkina Faso, poured for guests as a gesture of hospitality across the Mooré-speaking heartland. Its name translates literally as "flour water", but that undersells it: made well, it is a smooth, chilled, lightly sweet cooler in the family of horchata and other strained grain drinks, not a thick porridge.
Fine , the grain that has fed the Sahel for millennia, is blended with water, ginger, , and sweet pineapple and then strained thoroughly through a fine cloth so only a silky, cloudy liquid remains. Ginger gives it warmth and bite, a bright sourness, pineapple a mellow sweetness, and a little sugar rounds it out. Served very cold, it is genuinely refreshing in the fierce Sahelian heat.
Sold by street vendors and ladled out at home in Ouagadougou, zoom koom is at once a thirst-quencher and a light, sustaining pick-me-up, especially prized during Ramadan. Served very cold, it is a thirst-quencher and a light pick-me-up, especially during Ramadan.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and gluten-, dairy-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
1 cup fine flour
8 cups cold water
2-inch piece fresh ginger
1/2 small pineapple, peeled and chunked
3 tbsp pulp
1/2 cup, to taste sugar
1 pinch pinch of salt
Instructions
1
Soak the tamarind pulp in 1 cup warm water for 10 minutes, then work it with your fingers and strain out the seeds and fibre, keeping the tangy liquid.
2
Peel the ginger and blend it with the pineapple, millet flour, and 3 cups of the cold water until completely smooth.
3
Strain this millet liquid through a fine cloth or sieve into a large jug, pressing to get it all through.
✎ Chef’s note
Straining well is what separates a silky cooler from gritty flour water. Pass it through a fine cloth, and strain twice if you want it very smooth.
4
Stir in the tamarind liquid, the remaining 5 cups cold water, the sugar, and a pinch of salt.
5
Taste and adjust, balancing sweet, sour, and the warmth of the ginger to your liking.
6
Chill thoroughly. The millet will settle, so stir well and serve very cold over ice.
Burkinabè welcome-drink tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Ouagadougou. Riz gras belongs to the same family as jollof and Senegalese ceebu jen, and Benin, Ivory Coast, Togo and Guinea all make their own, so it is not Burkinabe alone. In the city it is celebration food, cooked in a wide pot for a crowd rather than for a single household.
🗺️
Burkina Faso. Riz gras is not Burkina Faso's alone. It sits in the same family as jollof and Senegalese ceebu jen and is eaten across Benin, Ivory Coast, Togo and Guinea, rice cooked in a tomato and oil base until it takes the colour. What is distinctly Burkinabe is zoom koom, the millet-flour welcome drink with ginger and tamarind, offered to a visitor before anything else.
🌍
Africa. The structure repeats across most of the continent: one starch and one sauce. A grain or root is cooked stiff, torn or rolled by hand, and used to carry a stew of leaves, groundnut, okra or fish, usually from a shared bowl and with the right hand. UNESCO listings have followed that logic, inscribing couscous in 2020 as a shared Maghreb tradition and Ivorian attieke in 2024.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Burkina Faso
Riz GrasBurkina Faso's "fat rice": rice simmered in a rich tomato-and-meat broth until every grain is stained red.
MassaLittle fermented millet fritters, crisp and tangy, sold hot with a spicy or sweet topping in Burkina Faso.
Tô with Okra SauceA smooth, firm millet paste eaten with a slippery okra and tomato sauce, the daily staple lunch of Burkina Faso.
Browse all Burkina Faso recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Blender.
Storing it: Keep chilled and covered, and enjoy within 2 to 3 days.
Make it a Burkina Faso meal
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Drinks
Frequently asked questions
What is Zoom Koom?
A chilled, spiced millet cooler, strained silky-smooth and brightened with ginger, tamarind, and pineapple, Burkina Faso's traditional drink of welcome.
Where does Zoom Koom come from?
Zoom Koom is a Burkinabè dish from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
Can Zoom Koom be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Zoom Koom recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Zoom Koom safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Zoom Koom take to make?
About 25 minutes total (25 minutes prep, 0 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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