Mandazi | East African Donuts
Mandazi is a popular East African triangle-shaped fried donut flavoured with cardamom and coconut milk and served with tea or coffee.
Servings: 3 people
Calories: 465.45kcal
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon cardamom powder
- 1 teaspoon instant yeast
- salt to taste
- 1 egg small
- ¼ cup sugar
- ⅓ cup thick coconut milk
- 1 teaspoon cooking oil
- ¼ cup lukewarm water more if required
- Oil to deep fry
For Coffee Glaze (optional)
- 1 teaspoon instant coffee
- 2 teaspoons hot water
- 3 tablespoon icing sugar
- 1 teaspoon cream heavy or whipping
- a pinch of salt
Instructions
Prepare the dough
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg, sugar, oil, and coconut milk.1 egg, ¼ cup sugar, 1 teaspoon cooking oil, ⅓ cup thick coconut milk
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, cardamom, salt, and yeast. Mix well.1½ cups all-purpose flour, ½ teaspoon cardamom powder, 1 tsp instant yeast, salt to taste
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and use the lukewarm water to bring the mixture together.¼ cup lukewarm water
- Bring the flour together and then knead for 8 to 10 minutes until it becomes smooth and elastic. You can use a little flour if it gets too sticky, or you can drizzle water if it is too dry.
- Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and let it rise in a warm place for 1-2 hours, or until it has doubled in size. Depending on the weather and humidity, it can take anywhere between 45 to 5 hours or more for it to rise.
Prepare the Coffee Glaze (optional)
- In a small bowl, mix the instant coffee and powdered sugar with the hot water until the coffee dissolves. Cool slightly and add the heavy cream and pinch of salt. keep stirring until everything dissolves. Refrigerate until needed.1 teaspoon instant coffee, 2 teaspoons hot water, 3 tablespoon icing sugar, 1 teaspoon cream, a pinch of salt
Shape and fry:
- Heat enough and more oil in a deep pot to deep fry.Oil to deep fry
- Punch down the dough and turn it out onto a floured surface. Divide the dough into 2 or 3 balls. Keep them covered to prevent drying.
- Roll the dough to circle with thickness of about ¼ inch. Use a knife and cut along the middle - to make four equal triangles (like a pizza).
- Drop them one by one in hot oil and wait for them to come to the surface and puff up. Turn sides and fry until they are golden brown on all sides.
- Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel to get rid of the excess oil. You can serve now as is or with dust of icing sugar or jam etc. Or give my coffee glaze a try.
- Pick a mandazi while still warm, dip only one side of it in the prepared coffee glaze and keep them on a plate with the glazed side up. Serve warm with chai or coffee!
Notes
The glaze is just enough for half the batch as I wanted to have both with and without glaze.
Nutrition
Calories: 465.45kcal | Carbohydrates: 74.56g | Protein: 8.83g | Fat: 14.93g
