Coconut Mandazi

Instructions

Sieve the flour, add in the yeast directly into it and the sugar and cardamom. 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.

If you’re planning to cook the mandazi on the same day, then let this dough stay covered outside for about a couple of hours for it to rise before starting to make balls and roll. It makes about 16 average sized mandazis.

Please click HERE for step by step instructions.

I normally prepare the dough before hand and then freeze it for whenever I need it, but in this case you will need to freeze the dough immediately after kneading, do not give it time to rise. Wrap the dough in some cling film and store in a tight-lidded container and freeze.

When you need to make the mandazis, take the dough out of the freezer and put it in the fridge overnight. It will thaw out gradually. Then, take out the tin and let it sit out for about an hour. When it feels softened, divide the dough into four and roll them up into balls. Roll out each ball to a circle of about quarter of an inch thickness and cut into 4 quarters. Repeat with the remaining balls to make a total of 16 mandazis.

Alternatively, you can make 16 balls out of the dough and roll out each mandazi separately into circles. Place the mandazi pieces on a floured surface so they don’t stick. Cover with paper and let them stay like that for another hour. They’ll rise some more. Then fry in hot oil. Don’t let it rise too much in the oil before turning otherwise it will bubble or burst and it won’t have a perfect shape. The minute each starts rising in the oil, turn it over. Remove from oil when both sides are a nicely browned color.

Enjoy!