Easy Mandazi Recipe: A Crowd-Pleasing Kenyan Treat
This soft fluffy delicious homemade mandazi recipe is a crowd-pleaser. The recipe is a family favorite with an easy-to-follow tutorial for a beginner to make these delightful Kenyan mandazis. This authentic mandazi recipe will soon become one of your favorites for breakfast, brunch, and to serve your guests.I have included a video guide of how I made this same recipe with 2kgs flour where I've tripled the recipe. I trust the video will be helpful too as you make the mandazis or you want to make lots of them.
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.
