Mandazi (East African Doughnuts) – a spicy, airy yeast doughnut dough made with coconut milk, flavored with cardamom and grated fresh coconut or coconut flakes. Best served with chai for breakfast or as snacks!
In Africa, there are all kinds of street food, most notable the undeniable popular street food puff-puff in West African, featured here. On the other side of the spectrum, in East Africa, in countries like Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania you have the addictive Mandazi (also known as Maandazi or Ndao and sometimes called Mahamri or Mamri).
I grew up eating puff-puff, and then later, I was introduced to Mandazi – which is similar to puff-puff …I was hooked. There is a certain complexity in Mandazi that clearly sets it apart from its counter part.
Mandazi is a nice way to introduce you to the joys of East African street food, a spicy, airy yeast doughnut dough made with coconut milk, flavored with cardamom and grated fresh coconut or coconut flakes. It can be made with yeast or baking powder. I love the depth of flavor that yeast adds to dough and my first choice is yeast; unless you need a quick fix-then replace the yeast with baking powder and let it rest for 10 minutes before frying.
These fried dough are not meant to be sweet, like doughnuts – slightly sweet would best describe its sweet level. It is best to use freshly ground cardamom for this recipe -you get a hint of crushed seeds as you bite into the dough- an enjoyable experience.
(An electric coffee grinder does a great job with minimal effort to crush the seeds or you can use mortar and pestle, which requires more energy).
When making the dough, stop at 3 1/2 cup, if dough is still sticky, knead in the remaining flour a bit at a time until the dough is smooth and no longer sticky. Keep in mind, that, on any given day and depending on the protein content of the flour you are using, you will need more or less flour depending upon the humidity and temperature in the flour and air.
Mandazi is best served fresh out of the frying pan with chai or as a snack .It gets really tough and stringy after a while.
By the way, I am SO torn between my childhood snack: puff- puff and this new favorite of mine- Mandazi. Someone help.
If you are looking for a really SOFT MANDAZI click here to take to you this Mini Soft Mandazi
Mandazi (East African Doughnuts)
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Ingredients
- ¼ cup warm water
- 2 teaspoon active dry yeast
- 1/2 cup canned coconut milk
- 1 large egg
- ¼ - 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups all purpose flour plus 1/4 more
- 3 tablespoons of freshly ground coconut or coconut flakes
- 1 teaspoon crushed cardamom spice
- 1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg or cinnamon
- Vegetable oil for deep frying
Instructions
- In a large bowl add the warm water, coconut milk, salt , sugar and yeast. Set aside for 5 minutes.Followed by eggs.
- Then add 3 cups flour, cardamom, nutmeg, grated coconut and mix by hands or in a stand mixer.
- Turn dough on a lightly floured surface, knead dough until all the ingredients have been fully incorporated and the dough is not too sticky, when touched, gradually adding more flour if you need be, err on the side of less flour than more flour, about 5 to 7 minutes.
- Place dough in a greased bowl, turning once to coat.
- Cover loosely with a clean cloth and let rise in a warm, draft-free place for 1 to 2 hours or until doubled.
- Punch the dough down, divide into 4 equal pieces, then form balls and roll out each piece into 6 triangular pieces. Let it rest for about 15 minutes.
- In a large, sauce pan pour vegetable oil, until it is at least 3 inches (or about 5 centimeters) high (too little will result in flatter mandazi and place on medium heat until oil is 375 degrees.
- Gentle drop the mandazi into the oil. Do not overcrowd the pan. Do so in batches.
- Fry for a few minutes until the bottom side is golden brown, quickly turn the mandazi over and fry for a few more minutes until the other side is golden brown.
- Use a large spoon or something like that to take it out of the oil. I usually place them on napkins right away to soak up some of the excess oil.
- If desired, you can sprinkle with powdered sugar to make it sweeter
Nutrition Information:
If you like a less guilt Mandazi try this one here
steph says
Wow. This was my favourite snack when i was a kid. Love this. I’m so gonna try them today;-) thanks
Suzzie. says
Thank you soo much for the soft mandazi receipe.A friend of mine surprised me when she called me and said she was craving mandazi.she is from west Africa,so I told her,to come over to me,so I could make it while she was there..I have never cooked mandazi for over 12 years,so while she was on her way,I quickly googled and found your receipe,and thanks to you,they turned out soo nice.when she got home,she txt me and told me,how everyone had enjoyed them,so I told her,anytime she craves mandazi,I will be more than happy to make it for her..
Aayan says
They are also found in Somalia.We eat SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH MANDAZI!!!!!!!!!!!
Alvin Grandcourt says
Thank you for this recipe it means a lot to me to be able to prepare mandazi. my grandma use to prep it for me when I was a child. she use to live in Tanganika but we are from the Seychelles. and this brings back so many great afternoon memories from 35 years ago and now I can taste mandazi again!!
ImmaculateBites says
Alvin, it is amazing what memories food could evoke.Thanks for taking the time to share this with us- I really appreciate it!
Mekia says
I have tried both of your mandazis… this one is really good . However, the other soft mandazi is AMAZING !!! and is really tender. Thanks for all your great work !
Patos says
Eeeh eh eh a MANdoes, they are so sweet am telling you!!! Thank you for teaching us how to cook perfect ones.
ImmaculateBites says
Patos,I am glad you like them.
ImmaculateBites says
Linet, the problem is not giving enough time for the dough to rise- it has to double in size.
linet says
mine sometimes turn out hard like biscuits,cookies what could be the problem?
ImmaculateBites says
Sorry to hear about your mandazi experience . Egg does help to tenderized the dough , however, mandazi gets stringy and tough after a while. Best eaten still warm.
Mbugua says
Mine always turn out hard and somewhat crispy when rested. Does the egg in your recipe help ?
Jordan Hickin says
I love mandazzi! 🙂 I had then every morning when I stayed in uganda for a month! A nice woman called rose would make us these with red plum jam and honey:p
I can never seem to make them taste the same though 🙁
Gemar says
I love easy snack.i will try this tomorrow and share with friends
Africanbites says
Let me know how you like it!
Kasuku says
I love mandazi! and yours looks really good just like the kind I grew up eating for breakfast everyday and taking some to school for snack (I’m from EA too). You inspired me, so this weekend I will make some mandazi to share with friends.
Africanbites says
Kasuku, am happy to have inspired you to make childhood after school snack. Let me know how it works out for you.
Irina @ wandercrush says
What a beautiful cross-section! I love yeasted sweets. Haven’t tried much of East African cuisine, but this is a good introduction as far as I’m concerned 🙂
Africanbites says
Irina, they are perfect introduction to East Africa cuisine and all of the ingredients are readily available. Thanks for stopping by
Janet says
In Sierra Leone, we went to the market one day and spied these delicious-looking puffs, with some kind of filling. The vendor said, “E sweet-o!” so I bought one and took a biiig bite. Too late, I remembered that ‘sweet’ in Krio just means ‘tasty.’ It was so spicy, I thought my hair would catch fire! It was tasty, though, after my mouth cooled off a little.
Africanbites says
Janet, what an experience you had, this one is sweet, spicy but not hot.
Axe says
Hahahahaha, that vendor could be a Nigerian.