These mini rice pancakes are difficult to resist. Fragrant from coconut, seasoned with cardamom, it is a beloved breakfast option that reflects the diverse culinary traditions along the Swahili Coast, from Kenya to Tanzania and Northern Mozambique. This recipe is naturally vegan and gluten free. While it is traditionally fried into mini pancakes, you can make these as regular pancakes too.
What is Vitumbua
Vitumbua is a mini rice based “pancake” sold as street snack in Tanzania and in Kenya. It can typically be enjoyed for breakfast with a hot cup of chai and a common part of a ramadan meal. Naturally gluten free, these mini pancakes are quite simple made with a batter of soaked rice, coconut milk, yeast and cardamom. They get their signature shape fried in a griddle with mini holes. When fried to perfection, they are crunchy on the outside, soft and pillowy on the inside. It is very easy to eat multiple in one sitting. It pairs deliciously with a hot cup of chai.
Vitumbua and Swahili Cooking
Vitumbua like many recipes found along the Swahili Coast is a beautiful reflection of the culinary traditions of the Swahili People.
Many know about the Swahili language spoken across many East African and Central African countries, but fewer talk about the culture that birthed this language. The Swahili culture is found along the coast of East Africa from Kenya right to the North of Mozambique — a culture born out of centuries of trade and migration across the Indian Ocean. It is a beautiful blend of South Asia, Arabian, Persian and Bantu African cultures with a language, culture and culinary tradition that mirror this mixing. Cities like Mombasa, Kilwa, islands like Zanzibar and Lamu have been shaped by these trade routes and that reflects in the cooking.
Swahili cooking is relatively simple, not spicy, but well seasoned, with recipes built around spices like cardamom, cloves, cumin, cinnamon and a lot of coconut. You see this in vitumbua. The batter is reminiscent of paniyaram — an indian mini pancake — but distinctly Swahili with the use of coconut milk and seasoned with cardamom.
The Difference between Vitumbua and Masa
As a Ghanaian food blogger, it is easy to see the similarities between vitumbua and masa. For reference, masa is a grain based mini pancake enjoyed across West Africa, commonly made with rice but also made with other grains like corn, sorghum or, my personal favourite, millet. You can find a recipe for the rice based masa by clicking here. However, while they look similar the flavour profiles and recipe pairing might be slightly different.
- Traditionally made Ghanaian style masa is fermented. It has a sourdough flavour; it is not usually seasoned and some fry it in indigenous oils like shea butter.
- Nigerian style masa (waina), is now commonly made with yeast, can be made more savoury and served with suya (grilled meats with a peanut based dry rub) or with traditional soups. Masa is lightly seasoned without intense spices or milks.
- Masa requires a mix of cooked grain and raw soaked grain. Vitumbua just uses a soaked grain. This also results in a slightly different flavour.
They both look similar and might be enjoyed during ramadan but the flavours are different. I am sure there are many more variations amongst these dishes that will be hard to fully list out. Irrespective of their differences, they are both delicious and fun to eat.
Ingredients you will need for Vitumbua
- Rice. Most recipes call for long grain rice, some use jasmine. But I honestly think jasmine might be too starchy and fragrant for this recipe so any regular rice is fine. I would use brown rice as this recipe has not been optimized for other grains. Soak the grains overnight to make it easier to blend.
- Coconut Milk. Regular canned coconut milk works.
- Cardamom Powder. This is a hallmark of Swahili cooking and gives the vitumbua a really nice frangrance
- Yeast. I used instant yeast as you do not need to activate it.
- Salt. Salt is essential as it adds dimension and balances the flavours
- Sugar. I use plain white sugar. I wouldn’t recommend a liquid sweetener as that will change the liquids ratio.
How to Make Vitumbua
Vitumbua is very easy to make
- Soak the Rice in water overnight
- Blend the soaked rice with coconut milk, sugar, cardamom powder, salt, and yeast
- Allow the batter to rice in a warm place for about an hour to double is size. There will be visible bubbles and it should look frothy
- Add a generous amount of oil to the mini pancake pan and pour enough batter in each hole to fill about 3/4 of the way.
- When the edges turn brown, flip with a toothpick and continue to cook for about 2-3 minutes.
- Serve with a hot cup of chai
Turning Vitumbua into a Flat pancake?
While viitumbua is fried as a mini round pancake, the batter can certainly be fried like a flat pancake. In fact, this is called vibibi.
Vibibi batter is typically made with eggs, might include all purpose flour or other dairy products, but frying the vitumbua batter as a flat pancake can very much look like vibibi.
All you need to do is fry the pancake in a small frying pan with a generous amount of oil. Once the edges start to lift off, you can flip it.
Want to try more Swahili recipes?
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups white rice
- 1 1/4 cup coconut milk
- 2 teaspoons instant yeast
- 1/4 cup of sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cardamom powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- Vegetable Oil
Instructions
- Soak the rice overnight.
- Blend the rice with the following ingredients-- coconut milk, yeast, sugar, cardamom powder, salt.
- Pour the batter into a bowl, cover and let it rise in a warm place for 45 minutes to 1 hour. It will increase inside with visible bubbles at the top of the batter.
- Heat the mini pancake pan over medium heat with a generous amount of vegetable oil in each hole (about 1/2 teaspoon each).
- Pour enough batter into each hole to fill about 3/4 of the way. Once the edges look crispy, use a tooth pick to flip the vitumbua. To do this, poke one side of the vitumbua with the tooth pick and flip it over.
- Cook on the other side for 2-3 minutes until golden brown.
- Repeat the frying process until all the batter has been fried up.
- Serve hot with a hot cup of tea