Kama

Ingredients

• Kama flour200 g
• Kefir600 ml
• Sugar3 tbsp
• Honey2 tbsp
• Forest berries200 g
• Cream — optional100 ml
• Saltto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Whisk the kefir with the sugar and a pinch of salt until the sugar has dissolved.

   3 min

2. 2

   Add the kama a little at a time, whisking; all at once it lumps, and the lumps never break up.

   5 min

3. 3

   Leave it fifteen minutes for the flour to swell, then check the consistency and let it down with more kefir if needed.

   15 min

4. 4

   Stir in the honey and divide between glasses.

   3 min

5. 5

   Chill for an hour and serve with berries and, if you like, a spoon of whipped cream.

   5 min

About the dish

Kama is not a dish but a flour: roasted, milled rye, barley, oat and pea. It is sold ready-made, but roasting and grinding it at home works.

It is mixed with kefir or soured milk rather than milk: the acidity is needed, or the result is a bland porridge that merely smells of toasted grain.

The proportion is a matter of taste, but the mass should be thicker than drinking kefir and easy to eat with a spoon. Too thick and it sticks to the palate.

Worth knowing

• — You can mill kama at home from equal parts rye, barley, oat and pea: roast them to a nutty smell and grind in a coffee mill.
• — One to three is the base ratio. Estonians also make it thick enough for a spoon to stand up in.
• — Kama is also eaten savoury, unsweetened, with kefir and dill. That is not a dessert but a light summer lunch.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

310 kcal

Protein

12 g

Fat

6 g

Carbs

52 g

More from Estonia

• Mulgipuder — A mash of potato and pearl barley with pork crackling. An Estonian dish recognised as a national symbol.