Market 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 the slab from roadside stands, markets and train-stop vendors.
Why it's made this way: Koba is sold across Madagascar, and slices of the dense log are a classic snack sold to passengers at stops along the Fianarantsoa–Côte Est railway down to Manakara.
More from Madagascar
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Nem Malgache (Malagasy Spring Rolls)
Masikita (Zebu Skewers)
Romazava (Beef & Greens Stew)
Part of World of Street Food — 3443 dishes from 118 countries.
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