The Managing Director of Muhammad Rabiu Dan-Azimi disclosed during an interview with Weekly Trust last Wednesday that the preparation of kilishi begins as early as 7am at the three branches of MRD Kilishi Association in Kaduna. Rabiu said the initial tradition of the association was to slaughter a well-fed and healthy bull to commence the day’s activities but limited time and the task of separating beef from bones was too tedious for his workers and they resorted to buying beef from the market.
“We also use mutton for kilishi to create variety for choice but many people prefer beef because they are used to it. Besides, kilishi prepared from beef lasts longer than the one from mutton.” said Rabiu.
In his sequential arrangement of the steps that usher the delicacy into the mouths of the public, Rabiu said after buying beef from the market, they commence shaving and slicing.
During shaving, the MD said they remove all the fat from over 150 kilogrammes of beef for the day’s activities; then they proceed to slicing the meat to a thin form which is the major feature of kilishi. “It is this thinness that makes it the kilishi you know and differentiates it from other recipes from beef and mutton,” he added.
The sliced meat is then spread out on a surface referred to as the stick-beds; structures similar to bamboo beds where both sides are oiled with groundnut oil and left under sun-heat to dry.
“When dry, the meat turns white and takes between five and eight hours for it to do so depending on the weather,” said Rabiu.
Adding groundnut meal and the five hours drying of the meat are not the only steps in kilishi preparation, these are the preliminary stages. Disclosing further steps, Rabiu who participated fully in the activities of kilishi makers at the headquarters, said they would further combine grinded groundnuts, pepper, salt, ginger, cloves, spices, onions, black pepper, maggi and long pepper which they grinded separately and mixed together. “We dip every roll of kilishi into a bowl containing this mixture then set it on for roasting on the fire which finally makes it dry and palatable to suit the taste of our increasing customers.”
Unveiling MRD Kilishi’s NAFDAC registration number- A19979L, the MD said all their activities at the headquarters on Jos Road and branches on Gwandu Road and Ori-Apata are under strict inspection of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).
Rabiu said his customers include men of repute and even civil servants, businessmen, militarymen, housewives, students of tertiary institutions in town. He also identified travellers as their major customers who buy them as souvenir to people in other parts of the country. “Travellers make a larger percentage of our customers and they buy them as gifts to people in other parts of the country. Militarymen have been patronizing us very well because they got used to kilishi when the Nigeria Defence Academy (NDA) was in town.”
Festivities always come with a boom in business and kilishi is not an exception. With years of trading and observation, Rabiu noted that business was at its peak during Muslim festivals, Easter, Christmas and the New Year. As many residents are travelling out of town with kilishi, others who celebrate the occasions at home find the snack indispensable in entertainment of guests and family members. “We open by 7am and close by 11pm daily. We do not make many sales during fasting but that does not affect our working hours. We have on several occasions made up to N100,000 daily although we sometimes record N50,000 as well,” said Rabiu.
When Weekly Trust asked Rabiu whether the millions of flies that greet customers at kilishi joints was a trade mark, the MD said those who operated in such environments did so illegally and stood the risk of being prosecuted by NAFDAC. Rabiu maintained: “even before NAFDAC registratered us, we operated in a tidy environment but after the registration, the NAFDAC sensitized us on the need to improve sanitization of our business environment by fomugating it. The cost of weekly fomugating is affordable. We don’t have flies as trade mark here and our kilishi is enclosed in cases.” Rabiu, however, said although it was true that some kilishi joints were noted for flies, it would be difficult to see such during the rainy season as the season sweeps away dirty stagnant waters fit for insects,” breeding.
On Sultan Bello Road at Anguwan Sarki in Kaduna, some kilishi sellers operated in stinking but fairly neat environment. In an interaction with one of the major producers and sellers, one Alhaji Adamu mai Kilishi told Weekly Trust that Anguwan Sarki Kilishi Association has the largest customers in the capital city. “Each producer buys his own cow. Many people like kilishi. It is a business that has come to stay.”
At Kawo motor-park in Kaduna last Wednesday, a man who gave his name as Umaru Maikilishi told Weekly Trust that he moves from one motor-park to the other selling wraps of the snack to travellers and he makes his own gains to shoulder some responsibilities. “I sold N45,000 worth of kilishi moving from one motor-park to the other in Kaduna last December but sales dropped gradually as we moved into 2011. This fasting period is the worst,” said Umar.
A couple said they were buying the snack for their consumption. The husband said, “I have been eating kilishi for the past 30 years. It is nice. It is only a snack. It is not a meal, therefore, you can eat it anytime anywhere if you have a car. I only buy it for my families outside Kaduna. I cannot buy it for Kaduna residents. They can come down here and buy it for themselves.”
Another buyer, Habiba, said, “I was sent by my father to come and buy it for the family. We are not eating it now. We shall have to wait till we break our fast in the evening.” Chikason, an Igbo trader in the neighbourhood of the kilishi makers said when there are no customers coming, they often kept themselves busy in their shop with the snack. “They make kilishi right under our nostrils every day. We are always attracted by the delicacy.”
