Double Cardamom: Malawax and Shai
In her final column, Fozia Ismail shares recipes for Somali cardamom pancakes and tea that prioritise comfort and warmth. Words by Fozia Ismail. Photos by Georgia Rudd.
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Somali Cardamom Pancakes with Berry Compote and Shai
I am not a fan of New Year’s. It’s not that I’m a grinch – I actually love that purgatorial period of time between Christmas and New Year, eating as many delicious things as possible, with as many different people as possible, before inevitably catching some lurgy that ruins festivities. It’s more that the new year tends to bring this heavy weight of expectations, with resolutions fixated on bleak diets and exercise regimes and a sense of obligation to better ourselves while simultaneously feeling battered by the miserable British weather and relentless rain.
Which is why, of course, at the beginning of January, I went on a freezing new-year walk up Pen Y Fan, the highest peak of the Brecon Beacons. It’s a beautiful part of the world, but the icy wind was brutal. Luckily, I had my shai to warm me up. This Somali spiced tea has been my trusty companion for many walks – I usually bring it in a beautiful mustard yellow thermal flask, which somehow adds to the sense of satisfaction associated with a much-earned tea break amid a blustery wind.
No matter how cold it gets, you can rely on the combination of spices in shai – cardamom, cinnamon, clove, and black pepper – to take you somewhere warmer. There is something so comforting about cardamom in particular; I return to it time and time again, particularly in winter. It’s the dominant spice in my shai, as well as in East African bakes like mandazi, a yeasted fried cardamom bread that’s usually eaten for breakfast, and that has a strange commonality with Nordic pastries like kardemummabullar, the fluffy Swedish knotted buns speckled with the sweet aromatics of cardamom seeds.
As January can be an overwhelming time for many, I wanted to think about comfort for this recipe. It is essentially pancakes and tea – an easy combination that crosses many cultures – but with the addition of double cardamom. I love pancakes in any form, but the warming note from the cardamom makes these Somali pancakes, known as malawax, extra wonderful. As for the shai, there is something so optimistic about the combination of scents that alone is worth the minimal effort involved in making it. I envision you making this combo as a miserable winter weekend brunch, using enough butter to make you forget all the grim news and worries for the day, or year.
Malawax with berry compote and crème fraîche
Makes 8–10 pancakes
Time 30 mins