Nafaqo

Ingredients

The eggs

• 4eggs
• hard-boiled and peeled
• cut into halves or quarters

The potato dough

• 800 gfloury potatoes
• boiled and peeled
• about 100 g plain flour
• 1 teaspoonground turmeric
• 1 teaspoonground cumin
• 1 teaspoonground coriander
• 2spring onions, finely chopped
• salt and black pepper

The batter coating

• 100 gplain flour
• about 250 ml hot chicken stock
• 1/2 teaspoonground turmeric
• salt

To fry and serve

• oil, for deep frying
• basbaas
• Somali chilli sauce
• at iftar in Ramadan

Directions

1. Cut pieces give a snack-sized croquette. That batter is made with hot stock. Flour is whisked into hot stock. That gives a thick smooth coating batter. Flour is worked into the mashed potato. Add the flour gradually rather than at once. Different potatoes need different amounts. Boil the eggs until they are hard. Give them about ten full minutes.
2. Cool them down in a bowl of cold water. Cold water stops them cooking further. Peel all of the eggs carefully. Cut them into halves or quarters. Boil the potatoes until completely soft. Give them about twenty-five minutes. Drain them all very thoroughly. Return them to the hot dry pot.
3. Let them steam dry for a minute. Wet potato makes a sloppy dough. Peel them while they are still warm. Warm potato mashes far more smoothly. Cold potato goes lumpy and gluey.
4. Work while they are still hot. Mash them until completely smooth. Mash it properly rather than roughly. Add the turmeric and the cumin. Add the ground coriander with them. Add the chopped spring onions. Season it with salt and black pepper. Work the flour in a little at a time.
5. Knead it lightly with your hands. It should be a stiff mouldable dough. Fry a small piece of the dough. Taste it and adjust the seasoning. It takes two minutes and is worth it. Take a piece of dough in your palm. Flatten it out into a flat disc. Put a piece of egg in the middle. Keep the potato casing fairly thin. A thick casing is heavy and stodgy.
6. Bring the dough up around the egg. Pinch it firmly closed at the top. Roll it smooth between your palms. Check each one of them for cracks. Smooth them over with wet fingers. Set the shaped pieces on a tray. Refrigerate them for twenty minutes. Heat the chicken stock until hot. Whisk the flour into it gradually.
7. Flour tipped into hot stock lumps badly. Whisk it in a little at a time. Keep whisking until it is smooth. Add the turmeric and the salt. Judging the batter takes a look. Let it cool a little before using it. Heating the oil takes attention.
8. Pour the oil into a deep heavy pot. Fill it no more than half full. Heat it to about one hundred and seventy-five degrees. It should rise and sizzle steadily. Keep a lid nearby to smother a flare-up. Never put water on an oil fire at all.
9. Keep children well away from the pot. Dip each piece into the batter. Turn it so it is coated all over. Let all the excess batter drip off. Frying them takes care and batches.
10. Turn them with a slotted spoon. Give them another two minutes. Lift them out onto a wire rack. That softens the crust within minutes. Pile them onto a serving plate. Cut one open to show the egg inside. Serve basbaas sauce alongside them. They must be eaten hot from the oil.

Technique

• The atlas describes a whole boiled egg wrapped, but most Somali recipes cut the egg into halves or quarters first and wrap each piece separately, so one egg gives several snack-sized croquettes rather than one large one. The atlas also calls it breaded; the commonest Somali method uses no breadcrumbs at all, dipping the croquette instead in a turmeric flour batter made with hot stock. Both coatings are genuinely made, the batter being the more common.
• Use floury potatoes and steam them dry in the hot pot after draining, then mash them while still warm and work flour in gradually until the dough holds a shape without sticking. Waxy potatoes stay wet, cold potato goes gluey, and without the flour the casing falls apart in the oil.
• Nafaqo means nutrition in Somali, which is well attested in the language; whether the dish is named for that is unrecorded, so the atlas notes it rather than asserting it.

Substitutions

• Egg and breadcrumbs is the other attested coating, though the flour-and-stock batter is the more common Somali method.
• Basbaas, the Somali green chilli, coriander and lime sauce, is served alongside and cuts the richness.

Variations

• Quarters give small snack-sized pieces and halves give larger ones; both are made.
• Chill the shaped pieces for twenty minutes before frying, since they firm up and hold together far better in the oil.
• Everything inside is already cooked, so five minutes in the oil is enough to colour and heat them.

History

A Banadir coast snack sold from street stalls and made for Ramadan iftar tables.

Frequently asked questions

What is Nafaqo?

Nafaqo is a street food from Somalia: mashed potato wrapped round a boiled egg, breaded and deep-fried. A Banadir coast snack sold from street stalls and made for Ramadan iftar tables.

How long does Nafaqo take to make?

Nafaqo takes 40 minutes of preparation and 25 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes about 12 pieces. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Nafaqo?

Yes, within limits. Egg and breadcrumbs is the other attested coating, though the flour-and-stock batter is the more common Somali method. Basbaas, the Somali green chilli, coriander and lime sauce, is served alongside and cuts the richness.

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

Cut pieces give a snack-sized croquette. That batter is made with hot stock. Flour is whisked into hot stock. That gives a thick smooth coating batter. Flour is worked into the mashed potato. Add the flour gradually rather than at once. Different potatoes need different amounts. Boil the eggs until they are hard. Give them about ten full minutes.