Last News

RECIPES

Mkate wa sinia, the coconut rice cake of the Kenyan coast

A traditional Swahili gluten-free cake

17-05-2022 di redazione

This delicious rice cake is known on the Kenyan coast as mkate wa sinia or mkate wa kumimina, which literally means flat bread.
It is an absolute must try and is also recommended for celiac sufferers as it is gluten-free.
It takes a little patience and mastery in its preparation, and it will probably take several attempts before you get a satisfactory result, otherwise you can always find it in one of the local restaurants and enjoy it with a good chai.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups long grain basmati rice
2 cups of coconut milk
1 cup of coconut cream
2 cups water (you may need more or none at all)
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cardamom powder
1 egg white
1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
3 tablespoons melted butter

Wash the rice thoroughly and soak overnight.
Line the bottom of a thick-bottomed baking tray with baking paper and brush with butter to prevent the rice bread from sticking to the pan.
Pour the rice and 3 cups of coconut milk into a blender. Blend well. If the consistency is too thick, slowly add the water, then the sugar and cardamom and finally one egg white. Blend until the mixture is smooth and free of lumps.
 Now pour the mixture into a glass container and mix the batter with a whisk, adding the yeast.
Cover and set aside to rise.
After about an hour, the batter should have doubled in size, stir gently and pour the mixture into the baking tin previously brushed with butter.
Place the pan on the cooker and set the heat to medium-low. Cover with a lid and steam for 10 minutes.
After this first phase of cooking, check the top by gently pushing the rice cake, it should be firm but at the same time spongy, if this is not the case wait another five minutes.
At this point you need to finish cooking in the oven at about 180 degrees with the grill function. Brush the top with melted butter and grill for 10 minutes until golden brown; remove from the oven, cover again with a lid and wait for it to cool.
Once cold, and only when completely cooled, the cake or rice bread is ready to be cut and served.

 

TAGS: mkata wa siniaricette kenyadolci swahili

An ancient Swahili legend says that before the arrival of the Portuguese, the natives of the Kenyan coast did not eat avocado but only used oil, because they did not consider it as fruit or vegetables.
When the Portuguese decided...

READ ALL

The ugali, composed of posho or sima, i.e. cornmeal and a side dish that can be meat, fish or vegetables, is the unique dish typical of Kenya and especially of the coast.

READ ALL

Fish morsels in mango sauce.
This is a Swahili recipe particularly used in Malindi and Watamu and on the coast of Kenya, where the plants of this delicious tropical fruit abound.
Here is for you the recipe of watamukenya.net

READ ALL

Climate change, the difficulty of having two maize harvests a year and problems with pest control products are convincing many farmers to focus on the tuber, which can also be processed into flour.

READ ALL

The goodness of free-range chicken in Kenya is no mystery. In most cases it is simply cooked on the grill, but there are dishes of Swahili cuisine that contemplate other pleasant encounters of flavors. One of these is tamarind chicken...

READ ALL

di redazione

Throughout sub-Saharan Africa, tapioca (cassava) and sweet potato are used as side dishes for stews with tomato sauce. In inland regions, these dishes are based on ox or...

READ ALL

The Swahili cuisine has an infinity of delicious sweet dishes that, especially during the Ramadan period, you can discover and taste and then propose them on our tables.
The vipopoo or...

READ ALL

"Samaki wa kupaka ya nazi", literally "Coconut fish cubes" is a dish of the Swahili tradition of Kenya, which uses various spices of ancient Indian origin to give it flavor. A very tasty version includes "madras", the most common one...

READ ALL

In the markets and on the edges of many roads of Kenya you can see the sellers of this tuber (already, usually they are women, the real productive and commercial engine of this continent).

READ ALL

Reopening for the new season this afternoon is Watamu's most beautiful sunset. It's no coincidence that...

READ THE ARTICLE

"Muhogo wa Nyama" (meat with cassava) is a typical Kenyan dish. Cassava is a tuber also known as cassava, it is used to make flour or like potatoes, both fried and stewed. Its taste is a bit reminiscent of chestnuts....

READ ALL

In Kenya, potatoes are particularly tasty.
The local population loves them fried, so much so that they are the ideal accompaniment to the national dish, the "nyama choma" (grilled meat almost toasted).
But there are many other ways to cook...

Cinnamon or cinnamon is an evergreen tree of the Lauracee family, originally from Sri Lanka but widely spread throughout the East.
Today it is also cultivated in Tanzania and partly in Kenya...

READ ALL

The Kiswahili language, originally from the coast of the same name that goes from the north of Mozambique to the Horn of Africa and later adopted also by the rest of East Africa, particularly by...

READ ALL