How to make Dambun Shinkafa

I am heading up the north of Nigeria, today to bring you Dambun Shinkafa. Well simply by the name you must have realised that this is a rice dish because of the Shinka. Yes you are right. Now that I am thinking about it I realised how healthy this cooking method of cooking rice is. By using this method you ensure every thing is steamed, so no nutrients are lost in the process.

Dambun Shinkafa brings together a mix of all food groups in a healthy way. The moringa leaves (zogale in Hausa)carrots, greeen pepper oils and the rice makes it all complete. Okay as soon as you see the final picture you are reminded of fried rice. The final taste is similar but something tells me the nutrients have been processed differently.  Halima, who shared this recipe also informed me that all the cereals used for the different types of Dambu are called tsaki. These could be broken rice, crushed maize, crushed wheat or acha. As always I find my own twist to the dish which is finishing it off with butter

Traditionally, when making this dish, all the ingredients are mixed and steamed together. But having tried this dish now I will mix half the veggies with the rice and retain the rest to add towards the end of the cooking so as to retain the nutrients in the vegetable. So in addition to the food ingredients you will need a sive with little holes to place the rice dish . I used what I have in my kitchen I also found that covering the rice with a muslin cloth hastened the process.  Enjoy as you try my version of Dambun Shinkafa served with home made Suya

Recipe for making Dambun Shinkafa

Ingredients

1 cup broken Rice

Handful chopped Carrot

1 cooking spoon fresh Moringa leaves

Scotch Bonnet Pepper to taste

4 fingers Spring Onion

1/2 medium size Onion

1 cooking spoon Alegho( spinach)

Chicken seasoning to taste

2 table spoon ground nut or and vegetable oil

1 table spoon Butter

Salt to taste

 

Method

Wash the broken rice. If you are not living in the north ask the traders in the market for rice used for making tuwon shinkafa. You can also use  jasmine rice. Generally this dish works with rice that cooks easily and softens fast.

Next chop all  vegetables and pluck the moringa( zogale) from the stem, no need to chop the leaves of the moringa. Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Remember to keep to half the vegetable to add to the rice when almost cooked. Cooking veggies for 2-3 minutes will help to retain the nutrients .

Place the rice mix in a sieve and cover with a muslin cloth. Add water in a pot and bring to boil. Be sure that when placing the sieve in the pot,it does not touch the water so you don’t loose the nutrients. You can use a spoon to stir the rice in the sieve from time to time to ensure the grains cook evenly.

I advise that you taste as you go to see if the rice is cooked.  Now keep an eye on the water level in the pot and keep adding till your rice is cooked. I found that I had to correct the seasoning towards to the end of the cooking. Finally when the rice is cooked pour into and bowl and mix in the butter. Serve warm with the Suya