Africa

Koba: Malagasy Steamed Peanut and Rice Cake Wrapped in Banana Leaf

Name: Koba: Malagasy Steamed Peanut and Rice Cake Wrapped in Banana Leaf
Prep time: 1 h
Cook time: 4 h
Total time: 7 h
Yield: 8 pieces
Cuisine: Malagasy
Ingredients: 220 g Unsalted roasted peanuts; 180 g Rice flour or joshinko (Japanese rice flour); 90 g Glutinous rice flour or shiratamako; 160 g Brown sugar or dark brown sugar; 30 g Honey or molasses; 120 g peeled Very ripe banana; 1 tsp Vanilla extract; 3 g Salt; 150–190 ml Hot water; 6–8 pieces, 25 cm square Banana leaf; 2 pieces, 25 cm square Parchment paper; 2 pieces, 25 cm square Aluminum foil; about 1 m Kitchen twine

A home recipe for Madagascar's koba (koba ravina) made with rice flour, peanuts, brown sugar and banana leaf. Covers preparing the leaf, wrapping, the long steam, substitutes, storage and serving, plus the rice flour blend, adjusting sweetness, spotting under-steaming and why the cake is cooled before slicing.

Published: October 24, 2026Total: 7 hrLevel: Intermediate

Cooking flow

Cooking steps

STEP 11 / 6

Toast and crush the peanuts

12 min

Dry-roasting peanuts in a skillet, moving them with a wooden spatula — Bring out the aroma of the peanuts over medium-low heat, then cool and crush coarsely once brown spots appear

Put the peanuts in a skillet and dry-roast over medium-low heat for 6–7 minutes. When light brown spots appear on the surface and a sweet aroma rises, turn off the heat and cool for 3 minutes. Chop them coarsely in a food processor, or put them in a bag and pound with a rolling pin, until they are a mix of powder and pieces. If you make only powder the cut face is monotonous, and if the pieces are too big it crumbles when cut.

STEP 22 / 6

Make a heavy dough of flour and sugar

10 min

Mixing rice flour, peanuts and brown sugar into a heavy brown dough — Don't add the hot water all at once; stopping when a wooden-spoon streak remains makes it easy to wrap

In a bowl, combine the rice flour, glutinous rice flour, salt and crushed peanuts first, until the flour and nuts are evenly mixed. In another container mix the brown sugar, honey, mashed banana, vanilla and 150 ml of hot water; if the sugar remains in lumps, warm it in a small pot over low heat for just 2 minutes. If you pour it onto the flour while hot, some of it sets in clumps, so cool it to body temperature first. Knead with a wooden spoon, adding more hot water 10 ml at a time if needed, to a stiffness like soft miso where a streak stays.

STEP 33 / 6

Soften the banana leaf

12 min

Softening banana leaf over steam — Soften the banana leaf over low heat or with boiling water until it doesn't crack when folded, then wrap

Wash the banana leaf in water and shave off the tough central rib thinly with a knife. For leaves that tear easily, pour boiling water over them quickly, or pass them over a low flame for 5–8 seconds per side. They are ready when the leaf turns a deep green and doesn't crack white when folded. Frozen leaf is wet after thawing, so wipe it with a cloth before using.

STEP 44 / 6

Spread on the leaf and wrap into a log

15 min

Spreading koba dough on banana leaf and wrapping it into a log — Make the dough about 5 cm across and use the leaf doubled to cover any torn spots

Layer 2 leaves and place half of the dough in the center. Spread it out to a log about 18 to 20 cm long and 5 cm across, and roll the leaf in from the near side. Fold the ends in like a candy wrapper and tie loosely in 3 places with twine. It swells a little as it steams, so don't squeeze tight; stop once the leaf won't come undone. Where the leaf has torn, layer parchment paper on the inside.

STEP 55 / 6

Steam for 4 hours without letting the steam die

4 hours

Koba wrapped in banana leaf arranged in a metal steamer and steaming — Raise steam over high heat at first, then firm up the center over 4 hours at medium-low

Bring plenty of water to a boil in the steamer and, for the first 10 minutes, steam over high heat to get strong steam going. After that, lower to medium-low and keep a heat where a thin stream of steam keeps coming from the gap at the lid. Check the water every 30 minutes, and always add boiling water. After the 2-hour mark, turn the logs over top to bottom, and at 4 hours it is done if, pressed from outside, the center is evenly springy. If the leaf aroma smells burnt, the heat is too high.

STEP 66 / 6

Cool completely before slicing

2 hours or more

Slicing cooled koba thickly on banana leaf — Cool koba before slicing. While hot it is soft and the cut face collapses easily

When it is done, turn off the heat and leave it for 10 minutes with the lid slightly ajar. Take it out and cool at room temperature for 2 hours or more, then open the leaf and cut slices 1.5 cm thick. If you cut while hot the cut face collapses and the cake looks undercooked. Lightly oil the knife, or dip it in water and wipe it as you cut, and it will drag the peanut pieces less.

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Ingredients

1 / 2

Dough

Ingredient	Amount	Choosing and notes
Unsalted roasted peanuts	220 g	No salt. Skin-on gives more toasty flavor; skinless is more refined
Rice flour or joshinko (Japanese rice flour)	180 g	Use a fine flour. Dango flour alone tends to come out heavy
Glutinous rice flour or shiratamako	90 g	Adds the stickiness when sliced. Crush shiratamako before using
Brown sugar or dark brown sugar	160 g	Powdered or in lumps; chop lumps
Honey or molasses	30 g	Deepens the aroma. Do not use honey for children under 1 year
Very ripe banana	120 g peeled	Black-spotted. Adds aroma and moisture
Vanilla extract	1 tsp	Optional. Don't overdo it
Salt	3 g	Tightens the sweetness
Hot water	150–190 ml	Adjust according to how much the flour absorbs

2 / 2

For wrapping

Ingredient	Amount	Role
Banana leaf	6–8 pieces, 25 cm square	The pillar of the aroma. If frozen, thaw naturally before use
Parchment paper	2 pieces, 25 cm square	Insurance if the leaf tears
Aluminum foil	2 pieces, 25 cm square	Outer wrap on days when you have no leaf
Kitchen twine	about 1 m	Keeps the logs from coming undone while steaming

0 / 0

Unwrap the leaf, and brown sugar and peanuts rise up

When you lift the lid of the steamer, the first thing that reaches you is not a sweet steam but the smell of green leaf. A moment later, brown sugar, roasted peanuts and the floury note of rice come up together, and for an instant your kitchen feels like the side of a street stall. Koba (koba ravina / kobandravina), from Madagascar, is a sweet whose most memorable moment is that unwrapping of the leaf.

Thick slices of koba served on banana leaf with tea — Koba is sweet and rich, so unsweetened tea or strong coffee brings out the peanut aroma

In Madagascar it is wrapped as a large log, boiled or steamed for a long time, and sometimes sold in round slices. English-language sources describe it as a sweet wrapped Malagasy confection built on peanuts, brown sugar, rice flour and banana leaf. Large ones can take many hours, and making one that size at home is not realistic.

This recipe makes two small logs about 5 cm across and steams them for 4 hours. The aim is not the giant market koba itself but the aroma of the leaf, the grain of the peanuts and a dense, chewy firmness from the rice flour. It is not a quick-set steamed cake; it is a sweet you cook slowly, cool, and then slice.

The outline of koba to protect

What to protect: leave the peanuts coarse, build the aroma with brown sugar rather than white, wrap in banana leaf and steam, and cool completely before slicing. On days when you can't get leaves, you can make it with parchment paper and aluminum foil, but the aroma will be a different thing.

What is koba?

Koba is a Malagasy sweet where rice, peanuts, sugar and banana leaf meet. Madagascar is an island whose staple is rice, so even the sweets keep the weight of rice flour. It does not rise like a cake; it is a dense dough, halfway between mochi and a nut confection, eaten in thin slices.

What to look at	Characteristics of koba	How to think about it when making it elsewhere
Local name	Written Koba ravina, kobandravina and so on	Ravina is often explained as a name tied to leaves
Main ingredients	Rice flour, peanuts, brown-sugar-type sugar, banana leaf	Mixing in a little glutinous rice flour with regular rice flour makes it easier to slice
How it is eaten	Sliced into rounds as a snack or sweet	Goes with hot tea, coffee and unsweetened milk tea
Cooking	Wrapped in leaf and boiled or steamed for a long time	At home, wrap small and steam for 4 hours

If you are building a Malagasy meal, follow a savory romazava (in Japanese) with a small portion of koba as a sweet finish. To connect through the aroma of peanuts, read about West Africa's mafe (in Japanese) and groundnut soup (in Japanese) first; you will see how differently the same peanut lands in each dish.

Ingredients (makes 8 pieces)

This amount makes two logs about 18 to 20 cm long and 5 cm across. Cutting each log into 4 pieces gives a thickness that goes well with strong tea or coffee. For a first try, don't make them too large; the center will cook through and the cake will be less likely to crumble when cooled.

Rice flour, glutinous rice flour, peanuts, brown sugar, banana leaf and a steamer laid out as the ingredients for koba — Koba binds rice flour and peanuts with brown sugar, wraps them in banana leaf and steams them for a long time

Allergy and food-safety notes

This recipe uses peanuts, bananas and rice flour. If anyone has a nut allergy, do not make it. If you use honey, do not give it to infants under 1 year. Because it steams for a long time, check the water every 30 minutes so the pot doesn't run dry.

Shopping notes for ingredients and equipment

What is worth thinking about is the combination of flours, a way to crush the peanuts, and a steamer that can run for 4 hours. Look for banana leaf at import grocers, Asian grocery stores, or in the frozen section.

Choose a fine rice flour that won't stay powdery after a long steam. The aim is not to make koba springy like shiratama dumplings but to keep a little of the firmness of rice flour.

Too much glutinous rice flour pushes it toward a dumpling. Keeping it to about a third of the total makes the cake less likely to crumble when sliced cold, and keeps the koba-like weight.

Peanuts can be chopped with a knife, but crushing 220 g coarsely takes some time. If you use a food processor, stop before it becomes a flour, while the texture is a mix of pieces from the size of a grain of rice to an adzuki bean.

Because it steams for 4 hours, a two-tier steamer to which you can add water easily keeps things stable. When the water at the bottom runs out, the aroma of the leaf turns to burning, so favor depth and capacity.

Method: shape small logs and steam them long

Koba firms up after steaming and cooling, more than right after mixing. You will want to cut it open to check partway, but it looks soft while hot, so don't rush the judgment. It is done when, pressing from outside the leaf, the center feels evenly springy, and after cooling it doesn't stick too much to the knife.

Where it tends to go wrong

With so few ingredients, the causes of failure narrow down quickly. The most common are making the dough too loose and cutting immediately after steaming.

Comparison of a too-loose dough and a dough of the right stiffness that keeps a spoon streak — A dough that flows, as at left, is too loose. At right, a stiffness where a wooden-spoon streak remains is easy to wrap

Condition	Cause	Fix
Flows when cut	Too much water, or cooling time too short	Mix in 1–2 tbsp rice flour. After steaming, cool for 2 hours or more
Crumbles	Too little water, or peanuts too large	Add water 10 ml at a time. Crush peanuts to a mix of coarse powder and pieces
White floury taste remains	Steam time too short, or dough too thick	Keep to 5 cm across. Steam 4 hours without letting the boiling water run out
Leaf aroma burns	Heat too high, or water ran dry	Lower to medium-low and add boiling water every 30 minutes
Sweetness too heavy	Brown sugar alone is too strong	Next time split it into 120 g brown sugar and 40 g light brown or cane sugar

Eating it like the locals, and fitting it into a meal

Koba is easiest to understand not as a dish set beside a staple but as a sweet to eat a little of during a walk through town or at tea time. The cut face is dense, so a thick slice eaten slowly brings out more aroma than a thin one.

For a Malagasy table, eat rice with a savory romazava (in Japanese) and serve small slices of koba after the meal. As island sweets, you can also read it alongside Sri Lanka's bibikkan (in Japanese) and Indonesia's kue satu (in Japanese). If you are interested in dishes wrapped in rice or leaves, Vietnam's com lam (in Japanese) comes from a similar idea.

Storage and reheating

Koba is a sweet you cut once it has cooled, so it is easier to handle the next day than on the day you make it. After slicing, sandwich the slices one at a time between parchment paper and put them in an airtight container.

Sliced koba sandwiched between parchment paper and placed in a storage container — Cool koba completely before cutting, and interleave the slices with paper so they don't stick

Storage	Time	When eating
Room temperature	half a day	Cool seasons only. Avoid in summer
Refrigerator	3 days	Bring to room temperature for about 15 minutes
Freezer	3 weeks	Wrap each piece; thaw naturally, then re-steam
Reheating	5 min	5 minutes in a steamer on low heat. A microwave tends to make it hard

Straight from the refrigerator the rice flour tightens and it feels slightly hard. Warming it 5 minutes on low in a steamer brings the leaf aroma back, but the cut face turns sticky, so leave it for 5 minutes after warming before moving it to a plate.

Nutrition (approximate)

Because peanuts and rice flour are the stars, it is more filling than it looks. As an after-meal sweet, one piece is enough.

Approximate per piece	Value
Energy	about 380 kcal
Protein	about 10 g
Fat	about 14 g
Carbohydrates	about 56 g
Fiber	about 5 g
Salt equivalent	about 0.3 g

FAQ

Can I make it without banana leaf?

You can, but the aroma changes a great deal. Wrap the dough in parchment paper and wrap that in aluminum foil, then steam. Without the green aroma of the leaf, use a little less brown sugar, and adding up to 1 tsp of vanilla keeps it from tasting flat.

Can I use peanut butter instead?

I don't recommend it. Peanut butter has a lot of oil and makes the cut face of the koba heavy and sticky. If you must, limit unsweetened peanut butter to 80 g and add 120 g of crushed peanuts separately to keep the texture.

Can I make it with rice flour alone?

You can. But it breaks easily when cold and the cut face tends to be floury. Adding glutinous rice flour for about a third of the total gives a good balance of firmness and stickiness after the long steam.

Can I shorten the steaming time?

If you make the logs thinner, about 3 cm across, it will set in 2.5 hours, but the deep koba aroma weakens. For a first try, keep to 5 cm across and steam 4 hours, which is less likely to fail. The larger and thicker you make it, the longer it takes for heat to reach the center.

What if it's still soft after cooling?

Wrap it again in leaf or parchment paper and re-steam over medium-low heat for 30 to 60 minutes. If it is so loose that it flows even after adding more water, next time reduce the hot water by 20 to 30 ml and add 2 tbsp more rice flour.

Can I make it less sweet?

You can cut the sugar to 120 g. But the sugar contributes not only sweetness but also moisture retention after steaming. When you reduce it, keep the 30 g of honey or molasses and use a very ripe banana.