Macsharo

Ingredients

Rice

• 300 gwhite rice
• soaked overnight
• or 300 g rice flour

The batter

• 200 ggrated fresh coconut
• or 150 g desiccated coconut
• 400 mlcoconut milk
• 200 gsugar
• 4eggs
• 1 teaspoonground cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoonsalt
• 1 teaspoonbaking powder
• 50 gbutter or ghee, melted

Sometimes added

• a pinch of saffron
• 1 teaspoonvanilla
• 50 graisins

To serve

• cut into squares or wedges
• shaah, spiced tea
• at gatherings

Directions

1. Rinse the rice thoroughly in cold water. Put it all into a large clean bowl. Cover it with plenty of cold water.
2. Leave it to soak there overnight. Drain the soaked rice thoroughly. Rinse it once in fresh cold water. Let it drain well in a fine sieve. Put the drained rice in a blender. Add some of the coconut milk to it. Blend it until it is completely smooth.
3. Blend it far longer than seems necessary. Give it several full minutes of it. Add only enough liquid to blend it. Too much makes it splash rather than grind. Add more once it is moving smoothly. Tip the ground rice into a large bowl. Add the rest of the coconut milk. Add the grated coconut to it as well.
4. Add the sugar and the salt to it. Add the ground cardamom to it. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl. Add them to the batter gradually. Whisk it well as you add them in. Stir in the melted butter or ghee. Add the baking powder last of all.
5. Add the saffron or vanilla if using. Baking powder starts working when wet. Add coconut milk if it is too thick. Let the batter stand for twenty minutes. Stir it well before pouring it out. Grease a deep round or square tin. Line the base with baking paper. A deep tin gives a thick soft cake.
6. Pour the batter into the lined tin. Heat the oven to one hundred and eighty degrees. Bake it for about forty-five minutes. Rice cakes take longer than wheat ones. Let it cool in the tin completely. Do not turn it out while warm. Turn it out onto a chopping board.
7. Cut it into squares or wedges. Use a sharp knife in one stroke. Set the pieces out on a plate. Serve hot shaah alongside them. It keeps three days in a sealed tin.

Technique

• Traditionally the pot sits on coals with more coals placed on the lid above, which surrounds the cake with heat and works as an oven without one; a domestic oven does the same job but cannot give the faint smokiness, and browning the top briefly under a grill approximates the coals above.
• Rice is soaked overnight and ground wet into a smooth batter rather than using wheat flour, which gives a tender, slightly grainy, denser and moister cake; blend it far longer than seems necessary, since gritty batter gives a gritty cake.
• There is no gluten to hold this together, so the eggs are the main structure; and ground rice settles to the bottom of the batter, so stir it well before pouring it out.

Substitutions

• Rice flour skips the soaking and grinding entirely, giving a slightly different texture.
• Desiccated coconut works in place of fresh, though it is drier.

Variations

• Saffron, vanilla or raisins are added in different versions.
• Some cooks brown the top under a grill to imitate coals above.
• It is served with shaah, the Somali spiced tea.

History

A Somali coastal sweet shaped by Swahili and Indian Ocean baking, cooked over coals with heat from above and below.

Frequently asked questions

What is Macsharo?

Macsharo is a bread & pastry from Somalia: ground rice and coconut batter baked into a soft sweet cake. A Somali coastal sweet shaped by Swahili and Indian Ocean baking, cooked over coals with heat from above and below.

How long does Macsharo take to make?

Macsharo takes 30 minutes plus soaking of preparation and 50 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes one cake, serves 10. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Macsharo?

Yes, within limits. Rice flour skips the soaking and grinding entirely, giving a slightly different texture. Desiccated coconut works in place of fresh, though it is drier.

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

Blend it far longer than seems necessary. Give it several full minutes of it. Add only enough liquid to blend it. Too much makes it splash rather than grind. Add more once it is moving smoothly. Tip the ground rice into a large bowl. Add the rest of the coconut milk. Add the grated coconut to it as well.