A taste of home

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Growing up in an African household, cooking was woven into our daily routine. My grandfather was a radical in a sense. He knew how to cook, bake, make his own moonshine and so much more. I spent a small part of my childhood with him and my grandmother. Those two shaped my life, my love of learning, gardening and cooking. Grandma didn’t write down her recipes. Neither did my mom. I am grateful that I have kept the recipes of many childhood treats. These meals are among my favorites.

In the attached video you will see me frying puff-puff, and this is such a versatile dish. It can be an appetizer, breakfast, or dessert. My kids especially liked it when I made puff-puff for their multicultural events at school.

To make puff-puff the way I remember it, you don’t need much — just flour, yeast, sugar, and warm water. But what makes it even better is having the right tools. I use a sturdy mixing bowl to combine the ingredients. I use a heavy cast-iron Dutch oven to fry them to golden perfection. When the puff-puff is done, I rely on a slotted spoon to lift them safely out of the oil. I do this just the way my grandmother did with her old kitchen tools.

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My Kitchen Essentials for Puff-Puff

Slotted Spoon – makes lifting puff-puff out of hot oil simple and safe.

Mixing Bowls – for stirring and letting the dough rise.

Cast-Iron Dutch Oven – keeps the oil hot and steady, perfect for frying puff-puff evenly.

Puff-puff is a simply dish that I like to the menu on a regular basis.

African Puff-Puff Recipe

Ingredients:

2 cups plus 2 tbsp of warm water

2(1/4) tsp of active dry yeast

3(1/2) cups of all purpose flour

3/4 cup of raw cane sugar

1/2 tsp of salt

Olive oil or any vegetable oil

Optional items

• 1/2 tsp of nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp of powdered ginger
• 1/2 tsp of cardamom

Instructions:

1. Mix 2 tbsp of sugar, warm water, and active dry yeast in a large bowl. Set the mixture aside for 5 minutes, or until it becomes foamy.
2. In another bowl sift the flour then add the remaining dry ingredients.
3. Pour the dry ingredients into the yeast mixture and mix with either a hand held mixer or with a spatula.
4. Cover up the batter and sit it in a warm place in your kitchen. You can use a proving draw of you want. Wait for about 1 to 2 hours and the batter should have doubled in size.
5. In a large saucepan, pour your oil until it is about 1/3 to 1/2 of the way full. Warm it up on low heat.
6. Test your oil by scooping a small amount of the batter and pour into saucepan. If the batter remains on the bottom of the pan, wait! Your oil is not hot enough. If your batter rises to the top of the pan within seconds then you are good to go.
7. Most Africans scoop the batter with their hands and simply drop small dough balls into the hot oil. Don’t overcrowd the pan. It will affect cooking time. In some cases, it will make your puff-puff chewy.
8. Fry the dough balls for a minute before turning them and cooking for a few minutes. Wait till they are golden brown.
9. Placed the dough balls on a tray/plate covered with a paper towel to soak up excess oil.
10. Set aside and cool off before serving with either powdered sugar, a savory sauce or just as is.
11. This treat is prepared differently , depending on which part of Africa you are from.
12. I am a product of Sierra Leone and this is how I remember it being made.

Thank you for stopping by 🙂