Mkate wa kumimina

Ingredients

The batter

• 500 gwhite rice
• soaked overnight
• 400 mlthick coconut milk
• 150 gsugar
• 7 gdried yeast
• 1/2 teaspoonsalt
• 1/2 teaspoonground cardamom

Sometimes added

• 2eggs, beaten
• a pinch of grated nutmeg
• a little rosewater

To steam

• a wide pot with a lid
• a round tin or bowl
• banana leaf, to line
• or butter, to grease
• water, for the steamer

To serve

• cut into wedges
• with tea or coffee
• at iftar in Ramadan

Directions

1. Rinse the rice in several changes of water. Cover it well with cold water. Leave it to soak there overnight. Eight hours is the minimum for it. Drain the soaked rice thoroughly. Discard all of the soaking water. Put the drained rice in a blender. Add some of the thick coconut milk. Blend it to a smooth thick batter. It must be genuinely smooth throughout.
2. Blend it for several full minutes. Add coconut milk as needed to move it. Rub a little between your fingers. It should feel entirely smooth. Blend it longer if it feels sandy. It should be a thick pourable batter. Warm a little coconut milk gently. Stir the yeast and a spoon of sugar in. Let it stand until it foams up. Give it about ten minutes to foam. Add the foaming yeast to the batter.
3. Add the rest of the coconut milk. Add the sugar, salt and cardamom. Stir it all together thoroughly. Rising it takes several hours. Cover the bowl over with a cloth. Leave it somewhere warm to rise. Give it at least three full hours. Line a round tin with banana leaf. Butter is the practical alternative. Either of them works well enough.
4. Put water in the bottom of a wide pot. Set a rack or a trivet above it. The tin must sit above the water. Stir the risen batter very gently. Pour it into the prepared tin. Stir it just enough to combine it. Fold it rather than beating it.
5. Fill the tin about two thirds full. Set the tin on the rack in the pot. Cover the pot tightly with a lid. Bring the water to a steady boil. Let it steam for about forty-five minutes. The lid keeps the steam inside the pot.
6. Steam condenses on the lid and drips down. Those drips make the surface wet. Wrap the lid in a cloth to catch them. Check it every fifteen minutes or so. Add boiling water if it runs low. A dry pot burns very quickly indeed. Steam it longer if it is still wet. Take the tin right out of the pot.
7. Let it cool for fifteen minutes. Cutting it hot tears it apart. Turn it out onto a serving plate. Peel all the banana leaf away. Serving it is done warm or cool. Cut it up into thick even wedges. Serve tea or coffee alongside. It keeps two days in a sealed container. Steam it again briefly to soften it.

Technique

• Whole rice is soaked overnight and ground with coconut milk rather than using rice flour: soaked rice grinds to a fine paste where dry rice stays gritty however long you blend it, and any grittiness stays in the finished bread. Rub a little between your fingers to check before going on.
• The yeasted batter rises for at least three hours until puffed and bubbly with a faint sour smell — both signs it is ready, though it will not double like a wheat dough. That faint sourness balances the sugar; a strongly sour smell means it went too long.
• Steam condenses on the pot lid and drips onto the surface, so wrap the lid in a cloth to catch it. Stir the risen batter gently and fold rather than beat it, since vigorous stirring knocks out the gas that makes it spongy.

Substitutions

• Butter greasing the tin stands in for a banana leaf lining, though the leaf adds a faint flavour.
• Beaten eggs, nutmeg or a little rosewater go into the batter in some households.

Variations

• The atlas also carries mkate wa sinia from Kenya, a very similar batter baked in a tray rather than steamed, and mkatra siniya from the Comoros, built on semolina; they belong to one Indian Ocean family.
• Steaming keeps it moist and pale with no crust at all, unlike its baked relatives.
• Cardamom runs through Swahili coast baking and came through Indian Ocean trade.

History

The name means poured bread: a rice batter is poured into a pot and steamed, a Zanzibari speciality of Ramadan tables.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mkate wa kumimina?

Mkate wa kumimina is a bread & pastry from Tanzania: steamed Zanzibar rice bread, spongy and faintly sweet with coconut. The name means poured bread: a rice batter is poured into a pot and steamed, a Zanzibari speciality of Ramadan tables.

How long does Mkate wa kumimina take to make?

Mkate wa kumimina takes 20 minutes plus soaking and rising of preparation and 45 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 8. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Mkate wa kumimina?

Yes, within limits. Butter greasing the tin stands in for a banana leaf lining, though the leaf adds a faint flavour. Beaten eggs, nutmeg or a little rosewater go into the batter in some households.

What is the most important thing to get right in Mkate wa kumimina?

Rinse the rice in several changes of water. Cover it well with cold water. Leave it to soak there overnight. Eight hours is the minimum for it. Drain the soaked rice thoroughly. Discard all of the soaking water. Put the drained rice in a blender. Add some of the thick coconut milk. Blend it to a smooth thick batter. It must be genuinely smooth throughout.