Kama

Ingredients

Base

• 6 tbspkama flour
• 400 mlkefir or buttermilk

To sweeten

• 2 tbspsugar or honey
• a pinch of salt

Optional

• fresh berries
• sour cream

Directions

1. Kama flour is a fixed blend of roasted barley, rye, oat and pea flours, sold ready-made in every Estonian shop.
2. The grains are roasted before milling, which is the whole character of it. It is already cooked, so nothing here needs heat at any point.
3. Pour the kefir into a wide bowl, cold and straight from the fridge, which is how it is eaten.
4. Add the kama flour a spoonful at a time, whisking hard after each addition.
5. Add it gradually and whisk between each spoonful. Tipped in at once it clumps instantly into dry lumps that will not break down, which is the one way this simple dish goes wrong.
6. Keep going until it is the thickness you want, from a drinkable shake to a spoonable porridge.
7. Stir in the sugar or honey and a pinch of salt.
8. Let it stand 5 minutes and check the consistency again, because it thickens noticeably as the flour hydrates.
9. Slacken it with more kefir if it has stiffened past what you want.
10. Serve cold, with berries or a spoonful of sour cream.
11. It is summer food above all, eaten cold for breakfast or as a light supper when it is too hot to cook.
12. The blend goes back to a way of preserving grain in a form that needed no cooking, which mattered in the field.

Technique

• The four-grain blend is traditional and fixed; single-grain versions are not kama.
• It is also used in desserts, whipped into cream as a kama mousse.
• It is nutty and faintly sour, and the roasting is what makes it taste of anything at all.

Substitutions

• Buttermilk, plain yoghurt thinned with milk, or soured milk.
• Talkkuna, the Finnish equivalent blend.

Variations

• Kamavaht, whipped into cream and sugar as a mousse.
• With berries blended through it.
• Made thick and eaten with a spoon rather than drunk.

History

Roasted and milled barley, rye, oat and pea flour that keeps without cooking; farm workers carried it and stirred it into buttermilk in the field.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kama?

Kama is a breakfast from Estonia: roasted barley-pea-rye flour stirred into kefir, lightly sweetened. Roasted and milled barley, rye, oat and pea flour that keeps without cooking; farm workers carried it and stirred it into buttermilk in the field.

How long does Kama take to make?

Kama takes 5 min of preparation and no cooking at all. The recipe makes 2 servings. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Kama?

Yes, within limits. Buttermilk, plain yoghurt thinned with milk, or soured milk. Talkkuna, the Finnish equivalent blend.

What is the most important thing to get right in Kama?

The grains are roasted before milling, which is the whole character of it. It is already cooked, so nothing here needs heat at any point.