East Africa’s special Donuts

If you’ve tried an old fashion donut then you’ll have an idea about what a yeast free donut tastes like. I think it tastes like love and good memories if you ask me. In Mombasa, we call these Donasi. I always wondered where the name came from. If you say Donuts in a slow-swahili-kind of way [insert Mombasa accent]… you will quickly realise how the name probably came about. This is purely my own hypothesis though. If you know how the name came about, please impart your wisdom with me in the comment section. I love learning!

Delicately spiced with fragrant cardamom and doused in icing sugar, a real treat for young and old.

East Africa’s special Donuts

Print Recipe

This recipe is for making Donasi. East Africa’s version of an old fashioned donut.

• Author: Vanessa Mehri

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 31/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 41/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup raw sugar (you can use good old regular sugar)
• 3 eggs
• 4 tbsp melted butter
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup yoghurt (I use plain)
• 1/2 tsp ground cardamom

Instructions

1. In a bowl, add the eggs, 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup yoghurt and the melted butter.
2. Give it all a good mix then add in 1 cup sugar and the 1/2 tsp of ground cardamom. Mix well.
3. Next to go in is the 4 tsp baking powder. Add 1/2 a cup of the all-purpose flour at a time and mix.
4. Cover the bowl with the dough and set it in the fridge for 1-2 hrs.
5. 1-2 hrs later, knead the dough for 5 min.
6. Sprinkle a little all-purpose flour on the counter and roll the dough to about 1/2 inch in thickness.
7. Using a donut cutter cut out round shapes. Cover the shapes with cling film to keep them from drying out.
8. In a thick bottomed pot, add 2-3 cups vegetable oil and heat to 190ºc.
9. Add the donasi into the oil and slowly cook until they get a beautiful golden brown.
10. Drain on some paper towels or on a cookie rack and let them cool completely.
11. Once cool, roll the donasi in icing sugar and enjoy

Notes

Fresh cardamom works great if thats’s what you have. Just remove the seeds from the pods and crush them into a powder

You can use a glass to cut out the donasi shapes. The measuring cups from medicine bottles work great to cut the smaller shapes out. This is a great opportunity to go shape hunting around the house with the kids to find things to use.