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Recipe

Africa
ChadN'Djamena
🍳 BREAKFAST

Kisser

Chadian sourdough crepes: thin, tangy fermented millet pancakes griddled soft and lacy, torn and dipped into sauce or eaten with sugar.
Chadian · medium · serves 4
prep 15 min · cook 20 min
~315 cal · 9g protein · 61g carbs · 3g fat · 6g fiber · 2g sugars · 1g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Kisser (also kissar) is Chad's thin, tangy crepe-bread, a batter of ground , sometimes stretched with rice or flour and a little yogurt, poured onto a hot griddle and cooked into a soft, lacy pancake. The overnight gives it a gentle sourness, like a Sahelian cousin of .
is the staple grain across Chad, and turning it into a supple, foldable bread is an everyday skill. Kisser is torn and used to scoop stews and sauces, or simply eaten with sugar, honey, or milk for breakfast, its sourness balancing whatever it is paired with.
Cooked fresh on the griddle in N'Djamena kitchens and across the country, kisser is humble, versatile, everyday food, the soft, tangy bread that shows up at breakfast and alongside the family pot at other meals too.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and gluten-, egg-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
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
Serves 4
1.5 cups fine flour
1/2 cup rice flour
1/3 cup plain yogurt
1 tsp instant yeast
1 tsp sugar
a pinch a pinch of salt
as needed warm water
as needed oil, for the griddle
Instructions
1
Whisk the millet and rice flours, yogurt, yeast, sugar, and salt with enough warm water to make a thin, pourable batter.
2
Cover and leave to ferment in a warm spot until bubbly and pleasantly sour, 4 hours or overnight.
3
Heat a lightly oiled non-stick pan over medium heat and pour in a thin ladle of batter, swirling to spread.
4
Cook until the top sets with small holes and the base is golden, then fold and serve warm with sauce, sugar, or honey.
N'Djamena griddle-bread tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
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N'Djamena. Boule is called aiyash by Chadian Arabs, and it is the same idea either way, millet or sorghum flour cooked stiff and shaped by hand. The sweet version, la bouillie, is thinner and eaten at breakfast, and dried okra and dried fish carry the pantry through the dry season.
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Chad. La bouillie is the sweet counterpart, a thin millet porridge taken at breakfast, sometimes with milk or tamarind. The country runs from Saharan desert in the north through savanna to the wetter south, and the cooking follows that line, dates and dried meat at the top, millet and okra in the middle, fish from Lake Chad and the rivers below.
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Africa. Much of what reads as timeless African cooking is younger than the Atlantic crossings. Maize, cassava, groundnut, chilli and tomato all arrived from the Americas after 1500 and pushed older crops aside; millet, sorghum, teff, yam and fonio are the ones that were already here, and the map still shows the join.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kisser?

Chadian sourdough crepes: thin, tangy fermented millet pancakes griddled soft and lacy, torn and dipped into sauce or eaten with sugar.

Where does Kisser come from?

Kisser is a Chadian dish from N'Djamena, Chad.

Can Kisser be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?

This Kisser 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 Kisser 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 Kisser take to make?

About 35 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 20 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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