Recipe
🥙 LUNCH
Miyan Taushe (Pumpkin and Groundnut Soup)
A creamy Hausa soup of mashed pumpkin and pounded groundnuts with meat and greens, thick, mildly sweet and savoury.
Nigerien · easy · serves 4
prep 20 min · cook 45 min
~631 cal · 40g protein · 23g carbs · 44g fat · 6g fiber · 9g sugars · 10g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Miyan taushe is the Hausa pumpkin and groundnut soup eaten across the south of Niger, taushe meaning pumpkin and miyan meaning soup. Ripe pumpkin is boiled soft and mashed, then thickened with pounded groundnuts so the pot turns creamy, mildly sweet and deeply savoury.
Cooked with meat and greens and served over a stiff grain swallow like tuwo, it is a nourishing everyday meal in Nigerien and Hausa homes. The pumpkin and groundnuts both grow widely across the region, making it a true dish of the land.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally 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
600 g pumpkin, peeled and cubed
400 g beef, cut in pieces
3/4 cup groundnuts (peanuts), ground
1 onion, chopped
2 tomatoes, blended
2 handfuls spinach or sorrel, chopped
2 tbsp red
to taste salt
Instructions
1
Simmer the beef (or mushrooms and chickpeas) with the pumpkin, onion and a little salt in water until the pumpkin is soft, then mash the pumpkin into the broth.
2
Loosen the ground groundnuts (or sunflower seed butter) with a little broth and stir it in until the soup thickens.
✎ Chef’s note
Blend the groundnut paste with warm broth before it goes in so it thickens the soup without lumping.
3
Add the blended tomatoes and palm oil and simmer 15 minutes, stirring, until rich and thick.
4
Stir in the greens, cook 3 minutes until wilted, season, and serve over rice or tuwo.
Hausa home cooking, southern Niger.
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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. Niger is mostly Sahara, with the crops and the people pressed into a southern band along the Niger river and the Nigerian border. That leaves millet and sorghum doing almost all the work, planted on a single short rainy season, and moringa growing where nothing else green will, which is why its leaves turn up as a vegetable rather than a supplement.
🌍
Africa. Africa's fifty-four nations hold cuisines as different as Morocco's slow-cooked tagines and South Africa's open-fire braai, yet shared threads run through them: ancient grains like millet, sorghum, and teff; stews thickened with groundnut, okra, or palm; and fiery condiments from Tunisian harissa to Ethiopian berbere. Staple starches, fufu, injera, ugali, couscous, anchor communal meals often eaten by hand from a shared dish, where hospitality is a point of honor.
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
Storing it: Soup keeps 3 to 4 days refrigerated and freezes well. Reheat gently and loosen with a little water or stock if needed.
Make it a Niger meal
Kunun Aya (Tiger Nut Milk)Drink
Alkaki (Fried Wheat Sweet)Dessert
DambouDinner
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Frequently asked questions
What is Miyan Taushe (Pumpkin and Groundnut Soup)?
A creamy Hausa soup of mashed pumpkin and pounded groundnuts with meat and greens, thick, mildly sweet and savoury.
Where does Miyan Taushe (Pumpkin and Groundnut Soup) come from?
Miyan Taushe (Pumpkin and Groundnut Soup) is a Nigerien dish from Niamey, Niger.
Can Miyan Taushe (Pumpkin and Groundnut Soup) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Miyan Taushe (Pumpkin and Groundnut Soup) 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 Miyan Taushe (Pumpkin and Groundnut Soup) 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 Miyan Taushe (Pumpkin and Groundnut Soup) take to make?
About 65 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 45 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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