Mandazi (Kenyan Cardamom Doughnuts)
East Africa's favourite snack: lightly sweet, cardamom-scented dough cut into triangles and fried until golden outside and fluffy within.
Method
Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, cardamom and salt together in a large bowl. Mixing the baking powder evenly is what makes the mandazi puff evenly.
Add in this stepPlain flour 160 gSugar 30 gBaking powder 1½ tspGround cardamom ½ tspSalt 1 pinch
Make a well in the middle, pour in the lukewarm milk and melted butter and stir with a spatula. When it comes together, tip it onto the worktop and knead for , until smooth, soft like an earlobe and no longer sticky. Too wet? Add a spoonful of flour. Too dry? A spoonful of milk.
Add in this stepMilk, lukewarm 90 mlButter, melted 15 g
Cover the bowl and leave the dough at room temperature for . Rested dough relaxes and does not shrink back when you roll it.
Divide the dough into one ball per serving. Roll each into a round 15 cm across and 6 mm thick and cut it like a pizza into 4 triangles, 8 pieces in all. Rolled too thin they turn flat and hard; too thick and the middle stays raw.
Pour at least 2.5 cm of oil into a 18 cm pot and heat on medium-high heat for to 170 °C. No thermometer? Drop in a scrap of dough: it should sink briefly, then rise at once with lively small bubbles. Turn the pot handle inwards and keep any water away from the oil.
Add in this stepVegetable oil (for frying) 600 ml
medium-high heatLower the heat to medium heat. Slide the triangles in gently, away from you, and fry in 2 batches. Give each batch , turning every minute, until puffed and evenly golden on both sides. Overcrowding cools the oil and makes them greasy.
medium heatDrain on a rack or kitchen paper and serve warm with spiced milky tea (chai). Let the oil cool completely before you deal with it.
Cook's tip
If they brown fast outside but stay doughy inside, the oil is too hot; turn the heat down a little. Swap the milk for coconut milk for the Kenyan coast flavour. Store leftovers airtight and warm them briefly in a toaster oven to crisp them again.
Cooking it at camp
Make the dough at home and carry it in a zip bag in the cooler. At the campsite, fry in a wide, stable pot sheltered from the wind, using less oil so the pieces are half-submerged, and turn them often. Cool the used oil completely and take it home in a bottle.