Today we are going to start with the most famous n favorite dish in Tanzania. Vitumbua is everyone's favorite dish in Tanzania, either for breakfast, lunch, dinner of for Iftar. So today we are going to look at mini vitumbua although they are also made in bigger size it depends with your karai/pan.
INGREDIENTS
1 ¾ cups thick/heavy tui/coconut milk
1 ½ cups rice (the thick variety if possible, don’t use the thin long
grain if you can avoid it, we need these to be able to mash up nicely)
1 cup sugar (level)
1 tsp. instant yeast
½ tsp. cardamom powder
oil for frying
INSTRUCTIONS
Soak the rice overnight, and then drain completely. Make sure no
water remains in the rice, and you can do this by leaving it in a sieve
to drain for as long as you can.
Put the rice, coconut milk, yeast and cardamom powder into your
blender and blend until completely smooth. This may take a while but
stick to it. Keep blending for a full minute at a time, giving the
blender a rest of a few seconds between pulses. Once you’re satisfied
that the rice has been mashed completely and your batter is smooth, pour
it out into a bowl, cover and set aside to rise for 30-60mins.
Once risen, add the sugar and mix it in using your hand. Make sure the sugar is completely mixed into the batter.
Now put some oil in your Appam pan or any tiny karai and heat it up.
Then add batter using a spoon into your pan and fry the vitumbua, first
on one side and then turn it over to do the other side until golden on
both sides.
Serve warm!
Step 1: Blend the rice, coconut milk,
cardamom powder and yeast until completely smooth, it will be a thick
batter like consistency. Pour it out into a bowl and cover. Set aside
until doubled in volume, about half an hour to an hour depending on the
weather.
Makes about 50 mini vitumbua:
Step 2: This is how thick the batter will
look after 30-60 mins. Add the sugar and mix it in using your hand.
Make sure you mix it completely such that no sugar granules remain.
Step 3: Once the sugar is mixed in, the batter will become lighter and slightly more runny in consistency as shown in the pic.
Step 4: If you have an appam pan like the
one in the pic, use it for smaller sized vitumbua. Otherwise use the
smallest karai that you’ve got. Add oil into it, half a tsp. per slot if
you’re using an appam, otherwise more if using a bigger pan. Heat it up
on medium.
Step 5: Carefully, pour your batter into the pan. Do not over-fill.
Step 6: As the vitumbua cook, you will
notice tiny bubbles forming all over the batter in the pan. This is a
good sign, it means your vitumbua will have the perfect sieve-like
texture. Keep the heat on low so that the vitumbua cook through without
burning
Step 7: When you notice the vitumbua
firming up and their bottoms look colored, gently turn each one over and
cook the other side. You can use a skewer or flat wooden stick for
this.
Step 8: Cook the other side to a good golden color. Remove and continue this method for the rest of your batter.
Of course if you are using a bigger pan they will be bigger, and that’s okay too.
with love
RaBella