Coconut Mandazi/Mahamri - Step by Step
These are PERFECT for breakfast with a cup of tea, and go really well as an accompaniment to many meals…especially grilled meats.
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose/plain flour
- 3/4 tsp. instant yeast
- 7 tbsp. sugar
- 1 tsp. ground cardamom powder
- 3/4 cup heavy coconut milk
- light coconut milk just enough to make a soft but not sticky dough, so about ½ - ¾ cup, add slowly
- oil for deep frying
Instructions
- STEP 1: Make the Dough.Sieve the flour, add in the yeast directly into it and the sugar and cardamon. Start kneading with the coconut milk adding a little at a time until you have a good soft (but firm, not sticky) dough. Knead it for about 15 good minutes, pounding it as much as possible. To check that it’s been kneaded enough, roll it into a ball and using a sharp knife, make a deep slit through it, it should look slightly bubbly on the inside.
- Divide the dough into two and shape into balls. Let them sit to rise, or you can wrap in cling film and freeze for whenever you need to make mandazi.When ready to use, place each ball on a floured surface like in the pic.
- Step 2:Â Divide each ball in half again.
- Step 3:Â Form each section into a smooth ball.
- Step 4:Â Roll each ball into a circle of quarter inch thick
- Step 5:Â Divide each circle into 4 sections. Continue with the rest of the balls.
- Step 6:Â Place all the sections on a lightly floured surface and keep covered for an hour or so.
- Step 7: After sitting for about an hour, the sections will have risen.
- Step 8: Test the oil temperature by placing the back of a wooden spoon into the center of your frying pan. If the oil is hot enough to use, bubbles will immediately come up from where the tip touches the bottom of the pan. If no bubbles come up, then give the oil a few more minutes to heat up and test again. 🙂
- Step 9: Put your mandazi sections into the hot oil. Splash the oil over them to help them puff up. Don’t let them puff too high before turning otherwise they can form cracks. When they start puffing up, turn them over
- Step 10: This is after they have puffed and been turned over. Now fry until the color changes.
- Step 11: This is about mid-way through the frying, the color now is a nice light brown. I prefer them slightly darker so I let them fry a bit longer…
- Step 12: There we are! Perfect color. Now remove them from the hot oil, and continue frying until all are done. Serve!!
instead of can v use baking pd or soda pd
No Nishmath, this recipe requires yeast, not baking powder or soda.
Hello Fauzia, Thanks for the
Hello Fauzia, Thanks for the great recipes on your website. I made the coconut mandazis yesterday. I let the dough rise for 2h 15 min to double. (I am at a higher altitude- 3500ft). When I fried these, they didn’t puff up as much but the taste was great. I did make smaller ones & got 24 from the recipe. I used all the ingredients in the quantities specified but used 1 tsp of instant yeast as most of the other recipes that I have used required that much yeast.
Hello, thanks for trying my
Hello, thanks for trying my recipe. It could be that you rolled them out a bit too thin? Also, did you let them sit to rise a second time after cutting the mandazi before frying?
Can’t i add some salt . Will sugar alone really match with the food if we are to have mahamri with mbaazi?
No, don’t add salt for this recipe. Please try it as is for best results.
How many Mandazi will I get with 3 cups of flour? One more Question can I make it 1 day before I mean can I store it after frying? Thanks in advance
16 mandazi and yes you can store/freeze after frying for up to 2 weeks.
salaam fauzia,
can i use water or normal milk instead of coconut one ?
i shouldn’t add baking powder at all right ?
You can use milk (not water) but make sure you add about 4 tbsp of melted butter to the recipe because coconut milk normally has some oil in it. No baking powder, the yeast is enough.
I tried this for the first time at home & it turned out great thanx
lovely recipes, I am tempted to try them out,
salaam fouzia i tried the recipes & i added egg but the mahamri turnerd to be hard after i fry,do u thimk is because of the egg.thanx
W/Salaam, could be. Why did you add egg, any reason? It is not in the recipe. Best to try the recipe as it is first and then make changes next time if you want. Also, make sure you knead the dough very well.
Salams Fauzia and Idd Mubarak. We are a big family so need kilo’s worth of flour for mahamri. How much of the other ingredients would we need to increase? Also can you use atta flour instead of white? Shukran
W/Salaam, 1 cup of flour is 120 grams. Please adjust the other ingredients accordingly.
I mean one kilogram of flour is what we use in order to make enough mahamris for us although we do freeze some of them for later use. Shukran
Why did they not cook well on the inside?
Not sure, did the dough rise after kneading? Maybe you rolled them out too thick?
in the previous recipe u said 3 level TEACUPS and in this one you’re saying 3 CUPS, which one to follow?
My teacups are of the SAME SIZE as the average measuring cups. Please refer to this note for my measurement conversions: My Measurements
hi,can i add oil on the recipe,because am using coconut powder
Hi, is the powder full fat? If so, no oil is needed. Simply mix the powder in water or milk as directed in the instructions of the pack you are using and use accordingly.
Hello, thank you for the wonderful recipes. i tried the mandazi recipe it turned out lovely and my husband loved it!!
Can I refrigerate the dough overnight and do the frying in the morning?
Yes that is fine.
Salaam Fauzia, whats the difference between light and heavy coconut milk? please get back to me as i want to make this tomorrow! thanks sis
W/Salaam, heavy is the thick milk, light is when you dilute the thick coconut milk with some water to make it thinner in consistency.
AsSalaamualaikum,
I added 1tbsp of margerine to the original recipe Im a bit scared hope they dont turn out oily and soggy!!! Was used to the margerine recipe and didnt think coconut milk would replace the margerine!!!
W/Salaam, do let me know how it turns out.
I am going to add abit of fermented milk to this n let u know. I dont have enought coconut thats y. Thank for sharing.
are you using coconut milk from fresh coconuts or are you getting it from the supermarket?
Either works, have tried it both ways. 🙂
Yum…..hope that explains everything.
Also I have updated this in my blog http://kitchenrooster.blogspot.com/
Thanks
Rooster
Fauzia,
Thanks for sharing the wonderful receipe.
I have shared the receipe in my blog too.
I kept aback link to your blog too.
Hope that is fine.
I thought I will make it for snack but ended up as dinner.
My kids really loved it.My son said he wants mandazi for lunch to school.
Rooster
Thanks for the recipe. I have two questions:
1). The coconut milk used is it warm or room temperature?
2). The first step of instructions…”divide the dough into two and shape into balls. Let them rise or freeze them”. My question is how long should I let the dough rise?
Thanks.
Coconut milk should be room temperature. It takes about 45 mins to 2 hours for the dough to rise depending on the weather of where you are located. Warm weather helps the dough rise faster, takes longer in cold weather. When you find the dough has doubled in volume, it is ready to be used.
Thank you so much. I have
Thank you so much. I have just made the Mahamri and they came out perfectly. They rose and they were soft and beautifully brown. Asante and may continue blessing you for sharing.
If its not warm enough wea u
If its not warm enough wea u r u kud jus switch on ur pilot light in ur oven n that will be perfect thats wat i do
Assalamu Alaikum Fauzia!
Assalamu Alaikum Fauzia!
Which one is coconut milk.
May Allah reward you abundantly.
W/Salaam, I don’t understand
W/Salaam, I don’t understand what you mean by which one is coconut milk.
Salaam Fauzia, U hv such
Salaam Fauzia, U hv such fantastic recipes. All I need is to make time to try them one by one. I am attempting coconut mandazi nd would like to prepare them for an early breakfast. I can roll and cut the night before and let it hv a slow rise in the fridge. Removing them 30 to 45 mins before frying. I cld also try proving them in the morning in my micro/convection oven at 40 deg C for say 15 mins in case ty r still cold. Is this possible? Tks once again for all the wonderful recipes
W/Salaam, that is fine but
W/Salaam, that is fine but you could also fry the mandazi and then put them in an airtight container and freeze. Then simply warm them up in an toaster oven and serve. That is what I normally do when I want to have them ready really quickly. They keep for up to 2 weeks.
A.a can I use the coconut
A.a can I use the coconut milk cun.
Do you mean can? If so yes
Do you mean can? If so yes that is fine.
Hello Fauzia, Happy to report
Hello Fauzia, Happy to report that I managed to make extremely delicious mahamri, thanks to your recipe! Many thanks!
PS: Please enable photo comments, shall be able to share what I came up with 🙂
Hi, thank you so much for the
Hi, thank you so much for the lovely feedback! I normally add all pics of tried and tested recipes to our FB albums, if you would care to email me the pics I would be so happy to publish them there. Attach them to an email please and mail to fauziaskitchenfun@hotmail.com. 🙂
Hi Fauzia,thank you so much
Hi Fauzia,thank you so much for this very helpful pictorial guise. It really helped me to see if I was on track and I have now made your mahamris 4 times and everyone likes them. The only problem I have is that they get really hard when they are not warm. Am Idoing sth wrong? The only changes I haveade to the recipe is that I use powdered coconut milk and mix it as per the I structio s for heavy and light coconut milk. What can I to keep the mahamri soft? Asante sana!
Hi, thanks for the lovely
Hi, thanks for the lovely feedback. Make sure to knead the dough very well and ensure it is soft for the mahamri to remain soft after frying. 🙂
Hi fauzia I live up north
Hi fauzia I live up north where it gets quite cold. I know this would not rise in one hour so could I leave it to rise overnight? Also I do not have access to fresh coconut milk so would it change in taste if I used the best quality of tinned coconut milk I can find? Would it need to be diluted?
Hi, yes you can leave it
Hi, yes you can leave it overnight to rise, keep it in a covered container but with enough room for the dough to expand. And yes tinned milk will be fine. If it is heavy, use some as is (in place of the heavy/thick coconut milk) and dilute some with milk or water for the light coconut milk required in this recipe.
I tried this recipe but I
I tried this recipe but I left my dough over night. It had doubled. However, the mahamri got hard after frying. What could be the problem?
I used canned coconut milk which was earlier in the fridge.
Hi Fauzia,
Hi Fauzia,
I tried this recipe but kinda backfired. The mahamri got hard after frying. They taste more of the yeast than sugar. I used thick canned coconut milk n diluted some with hot water. What could be the problem?
Hi, sorry to know it
Hi, sorry to know it backfired. You mentioned in the earlier comment that you left the dough overnight, that is a pretty long time to set the dough aside and would be the reason why it tasted yeasty because it over-proofed. It only needs a few hours at the most to double. As for the hardening, could be that the dough needed a bit more kneading time, or the dough was rolled out a bit too thin, or the oil was not very hot so they fried longer than they should. Please do try again, make sure not to let the dough rest too long to double, and ensure the dough is very well kneaded and soft. 🙂
Jaazak Allahu Kheir Fauzia
Jaazak Allahu Kheir Fauzia these recipe and all are the best,easy,on point n very direct Ma Sha Allah. May Allah reward you with the best of your desires that will benefit not only you buy even the ones you love. Allahuma Amin
Salaam Suppose I omit thick
Salaam Suppose I omit thick coconut milk and just keep thin for kneading is it okay
W/Salaam, should be fine
W/Salaam, should be fine although they would not be as soft/rich.
My husband loooooved the
My husband loooooved the mahamri. Was my first time making them n they turned out perfect! God bless
It did not quite work for me.
It did not quite work for me. They tasted alright but they would just not rise. I stuck to the recipe by the letter. I live in Cambodia so temperatures or altitude are not an issue. I will try again as these bring back a lot of memories from when I grew up in Kenya.
Hi, have you checked if your
Hi, have you checked if your yeast is still good? The fact that they didn’t rise makes me doubt that the yeast did its job. Please check my note on how to check yeast in the tips and tricks section.
Hi fauzia i want to start
Hi fauzia i want to start mandazi business kindly advice if i can still use the same recipe,but i fill if i use the same recipe it means my mandazis are going to be very expensive,kindly advice.
Hi, my recipe is for home
Hi, my recipe is for home consumption, not for sale. So am not sure if the same would work for a business, or how much each would cost.
I’m not muslim so I don’t know if this affects them being used in ramadan but I liked these a bit more after adding 1 tsp of salt and doubling the cardamom
Hi Fauzia..can we use canned coconut milk bought from the store and if yes then how do u make it light..do we add water to it? Please reply