Railway Snack · Peanut Cake
Koba (Peanut & Rice Cake)
Photo: Danielle Andriantsiferana / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Vendors traditionally boil the banana-leaf-wrapped rolls for 24 to 48 hours straight, which is what caramelizes the peanuts and rice flour into a dense, fudge-like log.
Ground peanuts, rice flour and brown sugar are packed into a banana-leaf roll and boiled for a full day or more, producing a dense, chewy cake that's sliced and sold by vendors — famously hawked through train windows at stops along the east-coast railway into Toamasina.
Why it's made this way: The rail line linking Toamasina to the highlands turned koba into a classic platform snack, sold to passengers at nearly every stop along the route.
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