Puff-Puff (Nigerian fried dough balls)

Recipe No.: W-84

InternationalNigerian100 minServes 25

Weddings, naming ceremonies and markets in Nigeria are rarely without puff-puff, fried balls of yeasted dough that swell in the oil and turn golden and light, which is how they got their name: they puff up and float. The dough is simple, flour, sugar and yeast with a touch of nutmeg, and it has cousins across West Africa under other names, such as "bofrot" in Ghana. The secret is the batter: thick and sticky, never runny, and the oil at a medium temperature.

Origin of the dish: Nigeria (and West Africa) — A beloved snack in Nigeria, with close cousins elsewhere in West Africa, such as "bofrot" in Ghana

Photo: Puff Puff.jpg by Halima Waziri, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

Ingredients for Puff-Puff

• 2 cups(250 g) all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup(50 g) sugar, plus 1 tbsp more for dusting if you like
• 2 tsp(6 g) instant yeast
• ½ tspfreshly grated nutmeg
• ¼ tspsalt
• about 1 cup(240 ml) warm water, added gradually
• about 1 litrevegetable oil for deep frying

Method

1. Mix the flour, sugar, yeast, nutmeg and salt in a large bowl.
2. Add the warm water gradually while whisking until you have a thick sticky batter, heavier than pancake batter, that falls slowly from the spoon.
3. Cover the bowl and leave it somewhere warm for 45–60 minutes until doubled and full of bubbles.
4. Heat the oil to 170–175°C (the batter should rise to the surface within seconds without burning).
5. Stir the batter lightly and, with a spoon or a wet hand, drop golf-ball-sized portions into the oil in batches.
6. Fry for 4–5 minutes, turning, until deep golden all over, lift onto paper towels and serve warm, dusted with sugar if you like.

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