Mandasi

Ingredients

Dough

• 600 gplain flour
• 100 gsugar
• 7 gdried yeast
• 1/2 teaspoonsalt
• 250 mlcoconut milk
• or warm water
• 1egg
• 50 gbutter, melted
• 1 teaspoonground cardamom

To fry

• oil, for deep frying

Sometimes added

• a pinch of grated nutmeg
• zest of 1 lemon
• a little cinnamon

To serve

• warm, with sweet tea
• at a market stall
• dusted with sugar

Directions

1. Warm the coconut milk very gently. It should be warm rather than hot. Stir the yeast and a spoon of sugar in. Let it stand until it foams up. Give it about ten minutes to foam. Put the flour, sugar and salt in a bowl. Add the ground cardamom to it. Make a well in the middle of it.
2. Beat the egg and add it in as well. Pour in the foaming yeast liquid. Add the melted butter to it as well. Bring it together into a soft dough. Turn it out onto a floured surface.
3. Knead it for a good eight minutes. It should become smooth and elastic. Put the dough in an oiled bowl. Cover it and leave it somewhere warm. Let it roughly double in size. Give it an hour and a half there. Roll it out on a floured surface.
4. Take it down to about one centimetre. A centimetre thick is about right. Cut the whole sheet into squares. Make them about seven centimetres across. Cut each square across the diagonal. Use a sharp knife or a pastry wheel. Cut cleanly rather than dragging. That stops it puffing properly. Set the pieces on a floured tray. Cover them loosely with a cloth.
5. Let them prove for twenty minutes. They should look visibly puffed. Pour the oil into a deep heavy pot. Fill it no more than half full. Heat it to about one hundred and seventy degrees. It should rise and puff straight away.
6. Keep a lid nearby to smother a flare-up. Never put water on an oil fire at all. Keep children well away from the pot. Frying them takes care and batches. Turn them over with a slotted spoon. Give them another two minutes. Break the first one open to check. The inside should be light and open.
7. Lift them out onto a wire rack. A rack keeps them crisp underneath. Let all the excess oil drip away. Dust them with sugar while still warm. Serving them is always done warm. Pile them into a basket or a bowl. Serve sweet milky tea alongside. They are best within the first hour.

Technique

• Mandazi began on the Swahili coast, which traded across the Indian Ocean and took in cardamom and coconut along those routes; trade and mission routes carried it inland, where it became mandasi in Malawi. The spelling shifted with the language and the food is the same.
• This is a different thing from the plain Southern African fat cakes the atlas also carries: magwinya and makoenya are plain and often filled, while mandasi is enriched with coconut milk and cardamom, sweeter and aromatic, and eaten as it is. They belong to different traditions rather than being regional names for one food.
• A well made mandasi puffs up hollow and separates into two layers as it fries; cut the squares cleanly with a sharp knife rather than dragging, since a dragged cut seals the edge and stops it puffing.

Substitutions

• Warm water works in place of coconut milk, though it gives a plainer result.
• They are cut into triangles, diamonds or rolled into balls in different places.

Variations

• Nutmeg, cinnamon or lemon zest are added alongside the cardamom in some versions.
• Some are dusted with sugar while warm and others left entirely plain.
• They are sold with sweet milky tea at markets.

History

The Swahili coast mandazi, carried inland by trade and mission routes and sold with sweet tea at markets.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mandasi?

Mandasi is a snack from Malawi: fried dough puffs sold at markets with tea. The Swahili coast mandazi, carried inland by trade and mission routes and sold with sweet tea at markets.

How long does Mandasi take to make?

Mandasi takes 25 minutes plus rising of preparation and 30 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes about 24 pieces. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Mandasi?

Yes, within limits. Warm water works in place of coconut milk, though it gives a plainer result. They are cut into triangles, diamonds or rolled into balls in different places.

What is the most important thing to get right in Mandasi?

Warm the coconut milk very gently. It should be warm rather than hot. Stir the yeast and a spoon of sugar in. Let it stand until it foams up. Give it about ten minutes to foam. Put the flour, sugar and salt in a bowl. Add the ground cardamom to it. Make a well in the middle of it.