Malwa

Ingredients

Malt

• 2 kgfinger millet (bulo)
• Water, for steeping and sprouting

Mash and ferment

• 2 kgunmalted millet or sorghum flour
• 6 litreswater
• 500 gof a previous batch of malwa, or bakers’ yeast, as a starter
• Clean banana leaves, for covering

To drink

• Warm water at about 50°C (120°F), to fill the pot
• 1large clay or plastic pot (ekita)
• Long reed drinking straws (epi), one per person

Directions

1. Cook the unmalted millet flour with 4 litres water into a thick porridge, stirring hard over medium heat for 20 minutes, then let it cool to about 55°C (130°F) – hot enough to convert, cool enough not to destroy the enzymes.
2. Stir the ground malt into the warm porridge and hold it warm for 2–3 hours. The mash will visibly thin and turn sweet as the starch converts to sugar; taste it to check.
3. Cool to blood heat, add the remaining water and the starter, cover with banana leaves and leave in a warm place to ferment for 3–5 days. Some households dry and store the fermented mash as a cake at this point, reconstituting it when guests arrive.
4. Set the pot on the ground with everyone seated around it, each with a long reed straw reaching to the bottom. Drink slowly, topping the pot up with warm water as the level falls, and pass the conversation round with it.

Technique

• Malwa is drunk communally from a single pot through metre-long reed straws, an old Ugandan and East African custom that makes drinking a social act rather than an individual one.
• The malting stage is what separates real malwa from a sour porridge. Without sprouted grain there are no enzymes, no sugar and therefore no fermentation.
• Wild fermentation is unpredictable: keep everything clean, keep the pot covered, and discard any batch that smells of vinegar, solvent or mould rather than sour bread. Home brews vary widely in strength.

Substitutions

• Sorghum or maize can replace part of the millet; sorghum beer of this kind is brewed across the region under many names.
• A pinch of bakers’ yeast makes the first fermentation more reliable if you have no previous batch to use as a starter.

Variations

• Ajono, the Teso name for the same drink in eastern Uganda.
• Tonto, made from fermented bananas rather than millet, drunk the same way.

History

Fermented millet is topped with hot water in a communal pot; among the Iteso and Bagisu, elders drink and negotiate around the malwa pot for hours.

Frequently asked questions

What is Malwa?

Malwa is a wine & spirit from Uganda: warm millet beer shared from one pot through long reed straws. Fermented millet is topped with hot water in a communal pot; among the Iteso and Bagisu, elders drink and negotiate around the malwa pot for hours.

How long does Malwa take to make?

Malwa takes 1 hr of preparation and 10 days of cooking. The recipe makes about 8 litres, shared from one pot. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Malwa?

Yes, within limits. Sorghum or maize can replace part of the millet; sorghum beer of this kind is brewed across the region under many names. A pinch of bakers’ yeast makes the first fermentation more reliable if you have no previous batch to use as a starter.

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

Malwa is drunk communally from a single pot through metre-long reed straws, an old Ugandan and East African custom that makes drinking a social act rather than an individual one.