CARDAMON MANDAZI

Don't you just love a freshly made breakfast in the morning? Today I'm going to share with you a Kenyan snack recipe that is great for breakfast and any time of day. Mandazi is made by frying kneaded dough briefly in hot cooking oil. Mandazi is also known as Swahili Bun or Swahili Coconut Doughnut that originated from the Coastal region where the Swahili are the local inhabitants. Mandazi is very popular since it is convenient to make and can be interpreted in many forms while cooking. The original Mandazi is made with Coconut Milk or Coconut Cream, Cardamon Spice and Yeast, but you can make with Milk or Water, when it comes to spice you can add Cinnamon or any other Spice you prefer. As for the Yeast you can use Baking Powder instead.This Snack can be eaten with most foods like Dips, Beans (Mbaazi, the most common for this recipe), Milk Tea or Black Tea or you can have it on its own. You can even make the Mandazi with Almond nuts or Peanuts to give it a different flavour. You can either use Eggs or skip it, mine I made without and it turned out great. This is just one variation of the many recipes available for Mandazi, I will be making more in the near future as I want to try out the different flavours. Enjoy today's snack and let me know if you have made Mandazi before. Follow me on Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest

Ingredients

3 Cups + 2 Tablespoon All Purpose Flour
1 Tablespoon Instant Yeast
8 Tablespoons Sugar
1 Teaspoon Cardamon Spice
3/4 Coconut Milk
Pinch Salt
Cooking Oil for frying

Method

-Combine the All Purpose Flour, Yeast, Dessicated Coconut, Salt and Sugar in a large bowl. I used Instant Yeast which you can mix straight away with the dry ingredients. If you are using Dry Active Yeast, warm the Coconut Milk/ milk in a bowl, add the Yeast and Sugar and set it aside until it froths up

-Whisk the dry ingredients until well combined

-Add the warm milk into the dry ingredients and begin mixing

-Start kneading with your hands as you add more milk little by little

-The dough will start coming together as you knead continuously

-Knead the dough as you start forming it into a round form. After 20 minutes the dough will be ready as it would have formed an almost perfect round

-Cover the kneaded dough with a dump cloth in an oiled bowl and leave it to rise until it is double in size. If your Kitchen is not warm enough, you can put your oven on for a few minutes. Turn it off and place your covered dough inside, close the door and leave it there for 1 hour to rise. After 1 hour the dough will have risen and doubled in size

-Take the dough out of the bowl and place it on the floured board. Punch it to remove any air from the dough. Cut the dough into four equal parts

-Form the quatered doughs into a ball shape

-Roll it out into a long rectangle. The thickness should be 1/4 inch unless you want fleshy Mandazi you can roll it to a thick size

-Take a knife, preferably a serrated knife, and cut the rectangle into three equal long parts vertically

-Cut across the vertical lines so that you have squares formed

-Repeat the same process until all the dough balls that you had formed are done

-Cover the dough squares with a clean Kitchen cloth and let sit for 30-35 minutes

-After the 35 minutes, heat your heavy deep bottomed pan half filled with Cooking Oil. To check if the oil is ready, drop a small piece of dough into the oil after a few minutes. The piece should sizzle to the top immediately it is dropped in. Now you are ready to fry your Mandazi

-Carefully drop the Mandazi Dough several at a time. Do not overcrowd them so that they can have space to puff up. Immediately they start to float, use your spatula to cover/sprinkle the Mandazi with oil so that they puff up and do not remain flat

-Turn to cook the second side after a few seconds. Since the oil is hot you do not want to leave the Mandazis in the oil too long, they will start to burn or absorb too much oil

-Flip the Mandazis again so that the first side is cooked until golden brown

-Scoop them using your Spatula and let the excess oil drop back into the cooking pan

-Place on a Kitchen paper so that the excess oil is absorbed. Sprinkle with Icing Sugar (optional) and serve warm. You can take with Tea, Coffee, Juice, Beans or just have them like that

-I did not want my Mandazi too fleshy, I like them a bit hollow. How thick or thin you roll your dough determines how much flesh you get inside the Mandazi. Enjoy our favorite Kenyan snack!

print recipe

CARDAMON MANDAZI KENYAN STYLE

by Mulunga Alukwe July-18-2017

Ingredients

• 3 Cups + 2 Tablespoons All Purpose Flour
• 1 Tablespoon Instant Yeast
• 8 Tablespoons Sugar
• 1 Teaspoon Cardamon
• 3/4 Cups Coconut Milk/Milk
• Pinch Salt
• 1 Cup Vegetable Oil

Instructions

-Combine the All Purpose Flour, Yeast, Salt and Sugar in a large bowl. I used Instant Yeast which you can mix straight away with the dry ingredients. If you are using Dry Active Yeast, warm the Coconut Milk/ milk in a bowl, add the Yeast and Sugar and set it aside until it froths up-Whisk the dry ingredients until well combined. Add the warm milk into the dry ingredients and begin mixing-Start kneading with your hands as you add more milk little by little until the dough starts to become firm but soft-After 20 minutes the dough will be ready as it would have formed an almost perfect round-Cover the kneaded dough with a dump cloth in an oiled bowl and leave it to rise until it is double in size-Take the dough out of the bowl and place it on the floured board. Punch it to remove any air from the dough-Cut the dough into four equal parts. Form the quartered dough into a ball shape. Roll it out into a long rectangle. The thickness should be 1/4 inch unless you want fleshy Mandazi you can roll it to a thick size-Take a knife, preferably a serrated knife, and cut the rectangle into three equal long parts vertically. Cut across the vertical lines so that you have squares formed. Repeat the same process until all the dough balls that you had formed are done. Cover the dough squares with a clean Kitchen cloth and let sit for 30-35 minutes-After the 35 minutes, heat your heavy deep bottomed pan half filled with Cooking Oil-Carefully drop the Mandazi Dough several at a time. Do not overcrowd them so that they can have space to puff up. Immediately they start to float, use your spatula to cover/sprinkle the Mandazi with oil so that they puff up and do not remain flat-Flip the Mandazis again so that the first side is cooked until golden brown. Scoop them using your Spatula and let the excess oil drop back into the cooking pan-Place on a Kitchen paper so that the excess oil is absorbed. Sprinkle with Icing Sugar (optional) and serve warm. You can take with Tea, Coffee, Juice, Beans or just have them like that

Details

Prep time: 1 hour Cook time: 45 mins Total time: 1 hour 45 mins Yield: 3 Servings