Ingredients
The grain
- 150 gsorghum flour
- or maize flour
- or a mixture of both
- finely ground
The liquid
- 1.2 litreswater
- or 800 ml water and 400 ml milk
- a pinch of salt
To sour it, optional
- leave the mixed flour and water
- covered, overnight
- or add 2 tablespoons
- of a previous soured batch
To sweeten and finish
- sugar, to taste
- or honey
- milk, to pour
- a knob of butter, optional
- a squeeze of lemon, optional
Directions
- Use finely ground sorghum or maize flour. Do not use cornflour or cornstarch. Mix the flour with cold water to a smooth slurry. Cover it and leave it at room temperature. Leave it overnight, or up to two days. Stir that back in. It should not smell putrid or of ammonia.
- Discard anything that smells or looks wrong. Do not taste to check. Use clean bowls and utensils. Keep it covered and at room temperature. Very warm conditions favour the wrong organisms.
- Mix the flour into cold water first. Never add flour to hot water. Flour hitting hot water forms instant lumps. Those lumps never break down afterwards.
- Whisk the flour into a portion of cold water. Whisk until completely smooth. It should be like thin cream. Pour the cold slurry into the boiling water. Pour it in a steady stream.
- Whisk constantly as you pour. That prevents lumps entirely. Simmer it for about twenty minutes. Stir it regularly throughout. Use a heavy pan, which catches less. It should be smooth and slightly thickened. Keep hot water beside the pan. Add it near the end rather than at the start.
- Add the milk off the heat and stir it in gradually. Add a pinch of salt. Add sugar or honey to taste. Add it near the end. The soured version needs less than the plain. Adjust it to your own taste. Stir in a knob of butter if you like.
- Add a squeeze of lemon to a plain version. Serve it hot in cups or bowls. It keeps three days refrigerated. Stir it constantly as it reheats. The texture is unaffected, since it is already smooth.
Technique
- Mix the flour into cold water first, then pour that slurry into boiling water while whisking. Flour added to hot water forms instant lumps that never break down, and that is the single commonest failure with any grain porridge.
- Stir regularly and scrape the base. Porridge catches easily and a caught pan tastes burnt throughout with no way to rescue it. Use a heavy pan.
- Make it thinner than seems right. Igikoma is meant to be drinkable rather than spoonable, and it thickens considerably as it cools — keep hot water beside the pan.
- Give sorghum the full twenty minutes. Undercooked sorghum tastes chalky.
- The pinch of salt is not a mistake. It makes both the grain and the sweetness taste more, and leaving it out gives a flat cup.
- Add the sugar near the end. Sugar in the pan from the start makes it catch faster.
- A soured porridge is acidic enough to curdle milk. Add milk off the heat, stirring gradually, or leave it out of the soured version.
- Souring overnight is optional but does real work: fermentation improves the nutritional availability of the grain, makes it more digestible and preserves the mixture longer. A few spoonfuls from a previous batch makes it faster and far more predictable.
- Judge a ferment by smell — sour and clean like yoghurt is right, putrid or ammoniac is not, and fuzzy black, green or pink growth means discard it. A thin white film is usually harmless yeast. Do not taste to check whether something has gone wrong.
- Use finely ground sorghum or maize flour, not cornflour or cornstarch, which is a pure thickening starch and gives a gluey tasteless result.
- A squeeze of lemon in a plain porridge approximates the tang of a soured one.
- Sorghum was domesticated in Africa, tolerates drought and grows in poor soil, which is why it matters where it matters. It is used for porridge, bread and beer alike — impeke, the Burundian sorghum drink, is the fermented relative of this cup.
Substitutions
- Maize flour replaces sorghum and gives a milder, sweeter porridge.
- A mixture of sorghum and maize is common and balances the two.
- Milk replaces some of the water for a richer version, added off the heat if the porridge is soured.
- Honey replaces sugar.
- A spoonful of previous soured slurry, or plain yoghurt, starts the ferment predictably.
- Millet or finger millet flour make the same porridge with a different flavour.
Variations
- Uji in Kenya and Tanzania is the same thin porridge, often soured.
- Ogi and pap in Nigeria are the fermented maize versions.
- Mahewu in southern Africa is soured further and drunk cold.
- A thicker version, eaten with a spoon, is made in some households.
- Amandazi, the fried dough balls, are the usual thing eaten alongside.
- Impeke and urwarwa are the fermented sorghum and banana drinks of Burundi.
Frequently asked questions
What is Igikoma?
Igikoma is a breakfast from Burundi: loose sorghum or maize porridge drunk hot, sometimes soured overnight.
How long does Igikoma take to make?
Igikoma takes 5 minutes plus optional souring of preparation and 30 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 4. It is rated easy to make.
What can I substitute in Igikoma?
Yes, within limits. Maize flour replaces sorghum and gives a milder, sweeter porridge. A mixture of sorghum and maize is common and balances the two. Milk replaces some of the water for a richer version, added off the heat if the porridge is soured. Honey replaces sugar. A spoonful of previous soured slurry, or plain yoghurt, starts the ferment predictably. Millet or finger millet flour make the same porridge with a different flavour.
What is the most important thing to get right in Igikoma?
Use finely ground sorghum or maize flour. Do not use cornflour or cornstarch. Mix the flour with cold water to a smooth slurry. Cover it and leave it at room temperature. Leave it overnight, or up to two days. Stir that back in. It should not smell putrid or of ammonia.
