Introduction: How to Make Mandazi - an African "Donut"

Mandazi is one of the popular African dishes that you will find in the greater lakes of coastal regions of East Africa inhabited by the Swahili community. It is a dish that can be served as a breakfast with tea, appetizer before lunch, or even a soft late night dinner to entertain your groaning stomach before going to bed.

In this instruction, I'll show you how to prepare this dish and have it ready to be served in less than two hours.

Step 1: Ingredients

  1. 2 cups of warm water.
  2. 2 tsp. baking powder.
  3. 4 cups all-purpose flour.
  4. 1/2 cup sugar.
  5. 2 tsps. vegetable oil.
  6. Pinch of salt.

Note: All ingredients should be at room temperature and make sure that you have enough vegetable oil for deep frying

Step 2: Preparation of Dough

  1. In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and the sugar.
  2. Mix the water and the vegetable oil. Gradually add this mixture to the flour while kneading into dough. Use additional water if necessary.
  3. Knead for about fifteen to twenty minutes until a smooth and elastic dough is formed.
  4. let dough rest for several minutes.
  5. Divide the entire dough into six equal round balls.
  6. Spread every ball onto a flat surface maintaining a circular shape of the dough.
  7. Cut the flattened dough into four equal quadrants.
  8. Repeat steps 6 and 7 until you spread and cut all the round balls.
  9. Place all of the dough quadrants in a cookie sheet. This will prevent the dough pieces sticking onto each other.

If you are the type of person who likes to add a little fluffiness to their food or snacks, I'd recommend adding some eggs and milk when making the dough.

Also, you can use granulated yeast instead of baking powder, but you'll have to allow more time for the dough to rise before spreading and cutting it.

Step 3: Frying the Dough

  1. Heat a few cups of vegetable oil to 400F - 500F in a skillet or deep pot.
  2. Carefully put dough quadrants in the hot oil.
  3. With Caution, turn the dough a few times until they are golden brown all over.
  4. Fry only as many together as they can float in the oil without touching one another.
  5. Once completely fried, take them out and place on a paper towel to drain.

Step 4: Serving the Dish

  1. Let it cool down and drain most of the oil off of the Mandazi.
  2. Serve them on a plate with tea in the morning.

When serving, you can serve with some sort of dipping sauce and it happens to work with almost all of the known sauces available.