A Taste of Nigeria: Puff-Puff

For the country of Nigeria, I have chosen the sweet dish, Puff-Puff!

Puff-puff is a fried sweet dough ball made from flour, sugar, yeast or baking powder, and vegetable oil.

It originates in parts of West Africa, and is commonly eaten during picnics, or at celebrations and parties for events such as birthdays or weddings. They can be both an appetiser or a dessert. It may be flavoured with various spices like vanilla, cinnamon or nutmeg.

This yummy snack is deep-fried in vegetable oil, giving it a golden brown appearance that can make the mouth water with just a glance. If desired, you can top it with chocolate or sprinkle some sugar on it.

Ingredients

For this dish you will need:

Recipe

  1. Add flour, ground nutmeg/cinnamon, sugar and salt in a bowl, then mix.
  2. Add the yeast prepared earlier with lukewarm water and incorporate with the dry ingredients. Add lukewarm water in small quantities and mix everything by hand until all the ingredients are blended.
  3. Keep adding water and mixing until the batter is smooth with no lumps. The batter consistency should be fairly thick so as to not flow from a spoon.
  4. Cover the bowl with foil or cling film and make sure it is airtight by pressing it the edges of the bowl.
  5. Leave the batter to rise for at least 45 minutes. When it’s ready to fry, the batter will have risen and will have visible air bubbles.
  6. Pour some vegetable oil in a deep pot and slowly heat it on a stove. Using a pot instead of a deep fat fryer is recommended because the batter will stick to the netting of a fryer basket.
  7. Test that the oil is hot enough by placing a drop of batter into the oil. If it sizzles and comes up to the surface, then the oil is hot enough. If the oil is not hot enough, the batter will sink.
  8. When the oil temperature is right, scoop some batter into the oil with your hand by pressing the batter to come out from between your thumb and index finger (the linked video below shows the right technique).
  9. Put in more scoops of the batter - as much as the space in the pot will allow without overcrowding.
  10. Once the underside of the batter has turned golden brown, flip the ball so that the other side will fry as well.
  11. When both sides are golden brown, take out the puff puff balls and place them in a sieve lined with paper towels in order to drain the excess oil.
  12. Once cooled, they are ready to serve as they are or with your chosen condiment such as jam, sugar or chocolate.

For some visual instructions, watch this video.

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