Vitumbua – East African Coconut Rice Pancakes

Rice Pancakes Recipe

This is a Rice Pancakes Recipe that is both gluten-free and dairy free! It is also ridiculously easy to make!

You just dump all ingredients for the rice pancakes into a blender and blend to form the batter. Then let it rest for about 30 minutes before cooking the pancakes.

• Yield: 6 servings
• Prep: 10 minutes
• Cook: 20 minutes
• Total: 1 hour

Ingredients

Here are the simple ingredients you need for this Vitumbua recipe. You don’t need any rice flour here.

• Rice. We used Jasmine rice. Any rice you have on hand would work. Brown rice would work as well.
• Coconut Milk. The coconut milk should be unsweetened. You could also add dessicated coconut for some texture.
• Sugar. For sweetness. Put as little or as much as you’d like. This recipe yields Rice Pancakes that aren’t too sweet, which is great, so you can top the pancakes with syrup, honey, a dusting of powdered sugar, or any sweet toppings you like. Brown sugar works great here.
• Yeast. For helping the batter rise. Instant yeast or active dry yeast would work.
• Salt. For flavor.
• Ground Cardamom. Cardamom powder adds great flavor, and it is an East African essential. Check the spice aisle of your local grocery store for cardamom, or you could also get it from Amazon. We have had great success with blending cardamom pods alongside the batter.
• Oil for cooking the pancakes. Any neutral-tasting oil would work. We used vegetable oil.

For the full list of ingredients with measurements, check out the recipe card below.

Pantry notes

Try the following substitutions when making these Rice Pancakes:

• Brown rice -instead of white rice, you could use brown rice, which contains more fiber. We have not tested this recipe with wheat flour.
• Milk – use another plant-based milk like almond milk or cashew milk. You could also use regular milk if that works for you,
• Honey – instead of sugar, you could use honey, maple syrup, or agave for sweetening the batter.

How it comes together

Here is how to make these fluffy pancakes in 4 easy steps!

1. Pour water over rice and let it soak in the fridge overnight.

2. Place rice and all the other ingredients except the oil into a blender and blend to form the batter.

3. Keep the batter in a warm place to rise. Note that our oven is turned off here. Our oven is often slightly warm, so it makes the perfect spot for keeping batter to rise.

4. Place a Vitumbua pan on medium heat. Heat up for 2 minutes, then add half a teaspoon of oil. Place the batter into each hole and cook on one side for 2 minutes, then flip to the other side and cook for another 2 minutes.

Leftovers

Store the leftovers in an airtight bag in the fridge for 2-3 days.

Also, Check Out These African Recipes

Ingredients

• 2 cups rice, we used Jasmine rice
• 14 oz canned coconut milk, around 13 ounces is fine too
• ¼ cup sugar, add more if you want it sweeter
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon instant yeast
• ½ teaspoon cardamom
• ¼ cup vegetable oil or other neutral oil

Method

1. Soak rice in water. Place the rice in a medium bowl. Add water to completely cover the rice. Let it soak overnight.
2. Drain all water from the rice. Put the rice in a blender. Add all ingredients except the oil. Blend until smooth.
3. Rest batter. Pour the mixture into a medium bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel. Let it rise in a warm place until bubbles form on top for 30 minutes.
4. Cook pancakes. Put pan on stove medium heat. Let it heat up for 2 minutes. Add half a teaspoon of oil into each hole. Add batter to top of hole being careful not to cause an overflow.
5. Let the batter cook in each pan for about 2 minutes until slightly brown around the edges then use a skewer to flip to the other side and let it cook for another 2 minutes or until completely cooked through.
6. Remove pancakes from pan and repeat the process with the rest of the batter.
7. Serve warm with maple syrup and fresh fruits.