The best 30 minute Chila recipe – The Zanzibari vegan and gluten free alternative to regular pancakes!

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Vegan and gluten free food in Zanzibari cuisine

When thinking about visiting destinations that serve vegan friendly or gluten free meals, Zanzibar would definitely not be at the top of one’s list until you start learning more about the islands and their cuisine! While many expect a delicious mix of different cultural influences that make up the multi-ethnic Swahili heritage, variety – when it comes to vegan dishes – is definitely a pleasant surprise.

So, here is the first of many vegan Zanzibari dishes that I will be sharing with you. It is one of my favourite Zanzibari alternatives to the traditional pancake recipe. Not only is it easy to make, it is also bound to please everyone’s taste buds! If you do decide to try this recipe, please send us pictures or tag us on Instagram, as we’d love to see it!

Ingredients

* 2 cups of white rice 
* 1 1/2 cup of coconut cream (you can also use 1 cup of coconut milk to substitute if preferred)
* 1 cup of white sugar
* 1 1/2 tsp instant yeast
* 1 tsp ground cardamom (we used our own Mitakawani farm yellow cardamom)

Instructions

Rice

1. Wash your rice and then soak in water between 4 hours – overnight. We aim to soak it overnight (the longer, the better!)
2. Drain your rice and make sure no excess water is left
3. In a bowl, mix your rice and coconut cream thoroughly

Coconut rice mixture

4. Put the mixture into the blender and blend until the rice is finely ground
5. Place mixture into bowl with a tablespoon of sugar and mix in your yeast
6. Cover it and set it aside to ferment and froth for about 1 -2 hours. At this point it should have doubled in size

Cardamom

7. Grind your cardamom (the finer, the better) and add it to the batter along with the remaining sugar. Stir well
8. Heat your frying pan up to a high heat
9. Scoop the batter with a ladle from the bowl and pour into the frying pan. Depending on how thick you want the pancakes, you can decide on size and number of scoops. I did 2 full scoops for each pancake

Final steps

10. Reduce your heat to medium to ensure that the bottom does not burn
11. The pancake will now start to cook slowly and little holes will start to form on the top layer. Please do not flip!
12. Once the batter has dried and cooked completely through, remove from the frying pan and place it on a plate

Serve this vegan treat up with some chai, custard or even with curry – and enjoy!

love & spices,

Jawahir Al-Mauly

Founder & CEO of Ujamaa Spice

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