Making fluffy authentic mandazi is not hard or complicated.
Making soft fluffy mandazi is easy and doable if you understand the secret to making soft delicious mandazi.
This is why you are here, right? You are in the right place! I’ll share our step-by-step guide to making this delicious Kenyan delight which has become one of our family’s favorite recipes.
About Mandazi
Mandazi is a delicacy believed to have originated on the Swahili coast.
It is also a favorite in my country. You will not fail to find mandazi served during major events in most homes.
Mandazi is also the preferred choice for breakfasts and teatimes. It is often the chosen option for serving guests.
You will be surprised at how easy it is to acquire the skill of making very soft fluffy delightful Mandazi.
Learning to Make Authentic Mandazi
I learned to make authentic mandazi in a high school home science class. I’m indebted to our home science teacher at the time, who first taught us how to make mandazi.
Over the years, though, I found the recipe I got in my home science class a little more like a deep-fried cake than a mandazi. It had more of some of the ingredients than I thought necessary.
After I learned how each ingredient contributed to the blend of all ingredients to create the best mandazi recipe, I embarked on developing my mandazi recipe.
Crowd-pleasing Mandazi
This soft mandazi recipe not only became a family favorite but each time I served it to guests, some of them requested the recipe. I eventually shared a variety of similar recipes on YouTube. I’m now also sharing it here.
Our tutorial for this fluffy mandazi recipe is so easy to follow. You will be surprised that when you follow the simple instructions, you too will have soft delicious mandazi as the end product.
What about storing or freezing our Easy Mandazi
Our homemade mandazis also freeze and keep well. This makes them suitable as a recipe you can prep and store in sizable quantities in Zip lock bags or storage containers for future use.
When you need them, remove them from the freezer the night before. They’ll thaw overnight and be ready the next morning.
If you need to use them immediately, you can microwave them on the Quick Defrost function for a minute or two depending on the quantity of mandazi. They’ll be ready to serve.
This delightful breakfast and brunch Kenyan mandazi recipe makes use of the following ingredients:
All-purpose Flour:
Work with any good-quality wheat flour to make your mandazi.
Baking powder
Use any good quality baking powder that’s not expired.
Sugar
Sugar enhances the taste of the mandazi. What I’ve given in the list of ingredients is a guide. You can work with the amount of sugar you’d prefer, or not add any.
Salt
The salt also enhances the taste of the mandazi, giving you a delicious balanced taste that you will enjoy.
Marge/ butter
Marge or butter helps shorten the dough, contributing to the overall texture of the dough. This eventually results in soft fluffy mandazi. I work with melted marge/ butter. You can also combine the dry ingredients and rub the marge or butter in the dry ingredients without melting. I found that when I melt the marge or butter, the result is often much better though.
Milk or water
Milk will make your mandazi healthier, softer, fluffier, and more nutritious. If I don’t have milk though, I use water. The mandazi still turns out great with water. I used water for this same recipe on YouTube with 2kgs flour which you can find here. The mandazis were really tasty, soft, and fluffy too.
Eggs
I find that eggs also enhance the overall texture of the dough, leading to fluffier, lighter, more airy mandazi. Eggs make our mandazis more nutritious too.
Cooking oil
Work with any good quality cooking oil suitable for deep frying.
Let’s get right into our delicious crowd-pleasing mandazi recipe that I trust will become one of your favorites when you try it.
Easy Mandazi Recipe: A Crowd-Pleasing Kenyan Treat
Equipment
- 1 Mixing Bowl
- 1 small bowl
- 1 Rolling Pin
- 1 cookie cutter or bread knife for forming shapes (You can improvise with a suitable glass to cut the shapes)
- 1 Deep frying pan
- 1 Slotted Spoon
- 1 Kitchen towel
Ingredients
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 tbsps baking powder
- ⅓ tsp salt
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp-heaped melted marge/ butter (Should be lukewarm or room temperature)
- 1 &½ cups Milk - Could be slightly more or less depending on the brand of flour you are using. (You can also use water instead, or milk and water in equal proportions)
- Cooking oil to deep fry (Should be enough to fill halfway the frying pan or slightly less than half the pan)
Instructions
- Begin by evenly combining all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Set aside
- Add the melted marge/ butter, egg, and a cup of milk to a small bowl. Mix until well incorporated.
- Let's get back to our dry ingredients.Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients and mix with your hands.As you mix, add the remaining milk, a little at a time, and mix until all the ingredients are well incorporated. Ensure to form a soft sticky dough. This is why you may add more milk than what is in the ingredients list if the dough isn't soft yet.A soft dough is part of what will help give us soft fluffy mandazis.
- Cover the dough with a clean kitchen towel and let it rest for 30 minutes to 1 hour.(The longer the dough takes to rest, the softer and smooth it will be, resulting in softer fluffier mandazis. When I want to fry mandazi the next morning for breakfast or brunch, I'll often make the dough the night before, cover it with a clean kitchen towel and let it rest overnight. I'll then knead it and make the mandazi the next day. You can also prepare your dough this way)
- Transfer the dough to a floured surface and knead it for 5 to 10 minutes.The longer the kneading though, the smoother the mandazi will be. If you can knead the dough for 10 minutes, the better the result will be.
- Roll the dough on the floured surface with your rolling pin to a thickness of about a centimeter.Cut the dough into desired shapes, could be rectangles, squares, or triangles with a bread knife. Alternatively, you can use a cookie cutter, glass or suitable improvised shape to cut the dough into preferred shapes.(I prefer to work with a bread knife because I won't have to gather the left over pieces to roll again and cut the pieces when I use a cutter or round shape)
- Meanwhile, add the cooking oil to the frying pan and begin to heat it until just hot, not smoking hot.When the oil is too hot, your mandazi pieces will burn before they get to cook on the inside. When the cooking oil is too warm, the mandazi pieces will tend to absorb some of the cooking oil. When they are too oily, you will definitely not enjoy your mandazi.I usually know my oil is just hot enough by frying one of the mandazi pieces first. (You can cut a small piece of mandazi from a bigger piece and fry it first. Once it has fried to a beautiful golden color on both sides, that's how I know we’re good to go with frying the rest.
- Depending on the size of your pan, begin to gently slide the mandazi into the oil from the edge, so the oil doesn’t splash and burn you or someone else.As they slide in and float to the surface, immediately turn them over with your slotted spoon once you’ve slid in enough pieces. This is to ensure most if not all of the mandazis don’t form big air bubbles on the inside. Don't crowd the pan with mandazi pieces. Let the mandazi have a space of about ½ inch between them. If they are too crowded in the pan, they'll tend to cook at a slower rate and to absorb some cooking oil.
- Fry the mandazi to a nice golden color on the underside. Turn them over with your slotted spoon (or suitable spoon) and fry on the opposite side until nicely golden too.
- Fry the remaining pieces as explained above.
- Once your mandazi has cooled sufficiently, enjoy with a cup of your favorite beverage.Enhance your hospitality for the glory of God.
Video
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