Diversity is beautiful, mandazi

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم..

Isn't it,, I mean we have this African (East African) version of doughnuts (doughnuts will be the English translation, I guessed/learnt from googling) and in Oman as one of the popular and very common food known by everybody..

I've been asking many relatives for the perfect recipe, and believe me I have passed though loads of trial and error phase, till I made my favourite recipe/and tips,

Ingredients:

2 full cups of all-purpose flour (and more for kneading)

6-7 tbs granulated sugar

1/2 tsp cardamom powder

2 tbs milk powder

2 tbs oil (you might need extra for kneading)

1 tbs yeast

about 3/4 cup water

Method:

• start by adding the yeast into 1/4 cup water, mix well till it dissolves
• mix the rest of the ingredients together (except water), add the yeast water, knead and add the rest of the water as you knead
• your dough consistency is very important, I have given you the ingredients but as you knead, you have to have a soft dough but not sticky, a too hard dough result in a very heavy mandazi which has no air inside, and a too soft dough will give you an empty inside and quite hard. We want ours to be in between
• knead for 7-10 minutes.
• divide the dough into three balls, roll them but don't make them thin, see picture below..
• cut them with a sharp knife, you will get 18 pieces.

• now flour them and cover them with a cloth for about 30 minutes or till they rise a bit, we don't want them to rise too much
• at this step you can freeze them, arrange them on a try into the freeze, and as they freeze you can put them in one sealed bag. to make them again take them out of the freezer, let them reach the room temperature, but don't let them rise again, and fry them
• put a deep frying pan on a high heat, make sure it is high, start putting your shapes into the oil, keep it really fast here because otherwise you can get a really dark mandazi or even burnt, they take less than a minute/or about a minute to be ready

• they should be covered in oil, when they puff, turn them, let them for few seconds, and turn again, as you get the brown colour and the puffiness, take them out into a sieve which you covered with a tissue for the excess oil

• when they cool, you can also wrap them in a container, and freeze them, they will still taste and feel fresh when you use them later..
• served with tea only, or with honey, or with curries...

I've been doing some reading on food photography, it is amazing, I wish I could be a pro on that..