🥗 STARTER
Kopto (Nigerien Moringa Leaf Salad)
Tender boiled moringa leaves tossed with peanut paste or crumbled kuli-kuli, tomato, onion, cucumber, chili and lemon, eaten cool as a starter.
Nigerien · easy · serves 4
prep 20 min · cook 10 min
~90 cal · 5g protein · 14g carbs · 2g fat · 5g fiber · 5g sugars · 0g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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In Zarma, kopto simply means leaves, but in Niger the word has come to mean one leaf above all: moringa, from the fast-growing drumstick tree planted in courtyards and gardens across the Sahel. The leaves are stripped from their stalks, boiled until tender and turned into a salad that is eaten all over Niamey, especially during Ramadan.
The dressing is peanut. Cooks loosen peanut paste with a little water, or use kuli-kuli, the crunchy peanut cake left behind when the oil has been pressed out of the nuts, crumbled to a powder. Onion, tomato, cucumber and chili go in, with salt, a squeeze of lemon and sometimes a pinch of , the seed seasoning of West Africa.
Meals in Niger often start with a salad, and kopto is a favourite way to begin: eaten cold as a starter before lunch, or as a snack at the mid-morning break. A Nigerien recipe site files it under its starters and notes that it is also good on its own or with maize or wheat .
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and gluten-, dairy-, 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 4
- 300 g (about 8 loosely packed cups) fresh moringa leaves, picked from the stalks, or frozen moringa leaves; young spinach works if you cannot find moringa
- 1 tsp salt, plus a pinch for the cooking water
- 3 tbsp kuli-kuli (peanut cake), ground to a powder, or smooth unsweetened peanut paste
- 2 to 3 tbsp water
- 1 onion, thinly sliced
- 2 ripe tomatoes, diced
- 1 cucumber, diced
- 2 green chilies, pounded or finely chopped
- 1 tsp ground red chili, or to taste
- 1 garlic clove, crushed, optional
- 1 tsp ( locust bean seasoning), crumbled, optional
- 1/2 lemon, juiced
Instructions
- 1Rinse the moringa leaves well in a bowl of cold water, lifting them out so any grit stays behind.
- 2Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to the boil, add the leaves and boil for 5 minutes, until tender. Drain in a sieve, rinse under cold water and press out as much water as you can.✎ Chef’s noteFrozen moringa only needs 1 to 2 minutes in the water. Spinach needs no more than a minute.
- 3In a large bowl, stir the kuli-kuli powder or peanut paste with the water until it forms a loose, thick dressing.
- 4Add the moringa and mix well with a fork or your fingers, breaking up any clumps so every leaf is coated.
- 5Add the onion, tomatoes, cucumber, green chilies, ground chili, garlic and soumbala if using, the salt and the lemon juice. Mix again and taste for salt, chili and lemon.
- 6Spread the salad on a platter and serve cool or at room temperature as a starter, with a spoonful of extra kuli-kuli on top if you like.
Nigerien home and street cooking, Niamey.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Niamey. Dambou is festival food rather than an everyday plate: it belongs to the Zarma and Songhai of the southwest and it appears at weddings and naming ceremonies. The moringa leaves are boiled first, then folded through the steamed grain with peanut and oil.
🗺️
Niger. Dambou is steamed couscous of millet or another grain with boiled moringa leaves, peanut and oil, and it is not made from cassava. It belongs to the Zarma and Songhai of the southwest and is festive rather than everyday. Fura da nono is the Hausa and Fulani drink-meal: millet balls crumbled into soured milk and drunk from a bowl.
🌍
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 Niger
DambouSteamed grain tossed with moringa leaves, tomato, and oil, a light, nourishing dish of Niger.
Fura da NonoSpiced millet dough balls broken into cool soured milk and sweetened, the iconic Hausa-Fulani breakfast drink-meal of Niger.
Dan WakeSoft bean-flour dumplings tossed with oil, spice, and onion, a popular Hausa street lunch of Niger.
Browse all Niger recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan.
Storing it: Best assembled just before serving. Prep the components ahead and dress at the last moment so it stays crisp.
Make it a Niger meal
Kunun Aya (Tiger Nut Milk)Drink
Alkaki (Fried Wheat Sweet)Dessert
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Kopto (Nigerien Moringa Leaf Salad)?
Tender boiled moringa leaves tossed with peanut paste or crumbled kuli-kuli, tomato, onion, cucumber, chili and lemon, eaten cool as a starter.
Where does Kopto (Nigerien Moringa Leaf Salad) come from?
Kopto (Nigerien Moringa Leaf Salad) is a Nigerien dish from Niamey, Niger.
Can Kopto (Nigerien Moringa Leaf Salad) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Kopto (Nigerien Moringa Leaf Salad) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Kopto (Nigerien Moringa Leaf Salad) 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 still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), 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 Kopto (Nigerien Moringa Leaf Salad) take to make?
About 30 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 10 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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