Vitumbua- rice patties

Vitumbua is a breakfast dish in Tanzania you usually have it with a good cup of Chai (Tea in Kiswahili) while its still warm. Back home there are street vendors whom we call "Mama Ntilie" were people would buy them straight from her pan. Its made out of rice, cardamom , yeast and coconut. There is a special pan which has shallow holes 6-7 used to make vitumbua. I dont own the original vitumbua pan (larger in size) instead I have an appam pan . So, it makes smaller vitumbua a plus as it can serve as a snack.
A quick swahili lesson : Vi- signifies plural(>1 so its vitumbua), Ki- signifies 1 so its kitumbua- 1 rice pattie.

Ingredients: makes approx 30 small vitumbua.

1 cups finely ground rice flour
4 tablespoons plain flour (I use wholewheat)
1 packet of coconut milk powder
1 egg white
1/2 cup warm water
1 teaspoon yeast
1/4 cup sugar (You can add upto 1/2 cup, like mine less sweet)
1 teaspoon ground cardamom seeds

oil for frying (some people use vegetable ghee)

Directions.
Mix rice flour, plain flour, sugar, yeast, cardamom and the coconut powder then add the water slowly to form a thick paste.(You may need to add less or more water).
Cover and keep in a warm area (oven with the lamp on) for approx 45-60 minutes you see bubbles on the top and has atleast doubled in size. Some chefs advice to leave it overnight.
Give the batter a stirring.


Heat the appam pan, place a drop of oil in each pan, pour a teaspoonful of batter so that the pan is 3/4 full. Cook for 2-3 minutes (until it browns),flip the vitumbua.
Cook the other side and repeat until all the batter is finished.
Enjoy!!!!

This link does the honours in showing the traditional way!!! Thanks.