FEATURED RECIPE

Bofrot Puff Puff

📷

Zoe Adjonyoh

Episode 123

featured in

Episode 123

Excerpted with permission from:

Zoe's Ghana Kitchen: An Introduction to New African Cuisine – From Ghana With Love

Bofrot is the famous Ghanaian doughnut, a popular street food that comes wrapped in newspaper. Traditionally, palm wine is used in place of yeast, but it’s harder to come by than yeast, so I have used the latter here. These dairy-free Ghanaian Beignets can also be filled with chocolate sauce or strawberry jam for added pleasure - great for parties, great for everyday snacking!

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INGREDIENTS

1 teaspoon vanilla extract
300g (10½ oz) all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
100g (3½ oz) granulated white sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
5g powdered hibiscus (optional)
7g active yeast
200ml (6½ fl oz) warm water
1 litre (1¾ pints) vegetable oil, for deep-frying

To coat:

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
40g (1½ oz) sugar

Directions

Mix the vanilla with the dry ingredients, except the yeast, in a bowl. Sprinkle the yeast over the top of the mixture, then cover with the warm water and leave undisturbed for 5 minutes for the yeast to activate and start bubbling. At this point, beat the liquid into the dry until you have a thick batter.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or beeswax wrap and leave to rise in a warm place for 1–2 hours or until the batter has doubled in size.
Heat the oil in a deep-fat fryer (the safest option) or heavy-based, deep saucepan filled to just under half the depth of the pan to 325°F. Test the temperature of the oil with a small drop of the batter—it should slowly rise to the surface and brown slowly.
Using the drop scone method, drop a few separate tablespoonfuls of the batter into the hot oil and fry for 2 minutes or until golden brown, then turn each bofrot over and fry until evenly dark golden brown all over. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.Repeat with the remaining batter.
Combine the sugar and cinnamon for coating on a wide, deep plate, then roll the bofrot around the plate to coat them in the mixture. Serve warm or at room temperature on their own– or with clotted cream if you have it!

Tips: Dip your tablespoon for adding the batter to the fryer in the hot oil, to prevent the mixture sticking to it. If the doughnuts don’t keep their shape when deep-fried, there is probably too much liquid in your batter, and if they brown on the outside before cooking through on the inside, the oil is probably too hot.

Excerpted from ZOE’S GHANA KITCHEN by Zoe Adjonyoh. Copyright © 2021 by Zoe Adjonyoh. Photographs by Nassima Rothacker. Used with permission of Voracious, an imprint of Little, Brown and Company. New York, NY. All rights reserved.