DISH RESEARCH · Snack
Tchoukou
Also known as: Tchoukou cheese
Rectangular sun-dried cheese made from milk set with an abomasum-and-whey rennet preparation.
About Tchoukou
Tchoukou is a dried cheese made by women in Niger's pastoral communities. This cow's-milk version belongs to the traditional rectangular style, also known as tikomart in Tuareg.
Its flavour centres on concentrated milk and the richness of milk fat. A small abomasum-and-whey preparation provides the rennet that sets the curd.
The finished cheese is a pale yellow, roughly rectangular sheet with ridges from the draining mat. Its surface can show beads of milk fat, and the dry sheets may be eaten as they are.
Allergens in this recipe
Contains: Milk.
Other allergen details are unconfirmed.
Ingredients vary by restaurant. Confirm your allergens with staff before ordering.
Ingredients in Tchoukou
FAO's traditional Niger cow's-milk tchoukou.
- Cow's milkBase
- Cleaned dried abomasumBinder · Abomasum-and-whey rennet preparationIngredient page not linked
- Milk wheyLiquid · Abomasum-and-whey rennet preparation
Ingredient details & uncertainties
Allergen information is incomplete. Unconfirmed details do not establish that an allergen is absent.
- Cow's milk: Recipe-specific ingredient evidence; Milk source-confirmed. Broader milk candidate; the actual first milk option is cow’s milk, used fresh after milking. Its processing state is retained without substituting a pasteurised product.
- Cleaned dried abomasum: Recipe-specific ingredient evidence; Allergen details unconfirmed. The rennet preparation uses a fragment of cleaned dried abomasum. Animal species is not stated; no calf, lamb or goat species is assumed.
- Milk whey: Recipe-specific ingredient evidence; Milk source-confirmed. The whey is a separate input to the rennet preparation. Whey later expelled from the cheese is a derived output, not an additional purchased ingredient.
Origins & food traditions
Tchoukou is a longstanding cheese of Niger's pastoral communities, made by women to preserve seasonal milk; tikomart is its Tuareg name.
Countries
- Niger
- ChadCatalogue link pending review
Cuisines & regions
- Nigerien Pastoral Cuisine
- Lake Chad CuisineCatalogue link pending review