In East Africa this same food is called Ugali. Several varieties of millet have geen grown in West Africa for centuries. This nutty and slightly bitter grain is made into tuwo or used for a large variety of fried and boiled snacks. It is also known as gero or acha. Millet is available in health food stores and by mailorder.
Rice is grown in many of the wet coastal areas and around the river valleys of West Africa.
Ground rice, or rice flour, is used to make snacks, breads and fufu or tuwo. Northern and East Africa have long been familiar with rice due to the Asian and Indian influence on their foods. You can grind your own rice flour, buy it from a health food store or through mail order sources. This staple grain has been grown for hundreds of years in West Africa, but is hard to find in the northern hemisphere except as animal feed. Sorghum makes a delicious porridge which the Hausa call kunu.