Mix the cinnamon with
the nutmeg, the pepper, the allspice and the cardamom. Add the ginger
powder to the milk and whisk this well. Pour the milk in a glass and
wait half a minute or so until the froth has separated from the milk.
Mix the spice mixture with the coffee. Make sure the coffee is very
hot when you use it, because the temperature difference with the milk
is the secret to the layers. Pour the coffee carefully through the froth
and dust the macchiato with a little cinnamon powder.
I met with this delicious
coffee when I was in
Nairobi,
Kenya and went for lunch to the
Java House. I tried to
recreate it, and am therefore not at all sure that the recipe is good,
but I like the taste.
Malindi
is a city at the east coast of
Kenya and was, just
like Mombasa, a flourishing Islamic city state between 1000 and
1500, trading with many other countries among which
China and the Middle
East. In the 16th
century, Vasco da Gama arrived there and the country was under
Portugese reign
until 1698, when the Sultan of
Oman took it back. In 1895 the
British made
Kenya a protectorate
and immediately started the
Ugandan railway
from Mombasa, involving workers from
India. On 12
December 1963, the
country became independent, which is still celebrated as Jamhuri
Day. Jamhuri means "republic" in Swahili.
Click on culinary calendar for
Links between cooking and worldwide history.
