Malawi Mandazis

We’re holding a Street Food Market as a fundraiser for UNICEF. I’m doing Mandazis, which are a semi sweet doughnut flavoured with cardamom

300g pain flour

½ tsp yeast dissolved in 175ml warm water

½ tsp salt

50g sugar

2tsp oil

½ tsp crushed cardamom seeds

I’m weighing out the flour while Lowell is crushing the cardamom seeds with a pestle & mortar. If you only have cardamom pods you’ll need to break the seeds out first. We’re making this on the kitchen table and are listening to Nicholas Nickleby on the radio.

Mix the flour, sugar, salt and cardamom well, and then rub in the oil. It doesn’t seem to make much difference with this much flour but I suppose it’s there for a reason. Lowell thinks the cardamom is too over powering but we will see if it calms down in the cooking.

Pour in the yeast & water and knead until you get a smooth, bit not sticky dough. We had to add a bit more flour to ours – well Lowell did as my hands were stuck to the dough.  Divide into 4 balls and then roll each out into a 15cm circle. Divide each into 4 and then leave in a warm place for half an hour to rise.

When risen deep fry until golden all over.

When I was in Malawi last year I had these for breakfast every day, along with other things I don’t often get for breakfast like cucumber and avocado slices. I had several cups of local coffee and have never had a better start to the day.

I’m selling my Mandazis with Masala tea which is tea flavoured with cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and ginger. In Africa they would boil the tea leaves up with the water, milk, sugar and spices altogether. I'm not keen so I'm making it the usual way and adding a pinch of masala just before serving.