Jimi Famurewa’s Recipe For Puff-puff Pancakes

2 months ago

Efteling is a fairytale-themed, 73-year-old amusement park successful nan southbound of nan Netherlands that, aft 2 consecutive years of visits, has go an acute obsession among my family. We emotion nan vaguely folk-horror animatronic trees, witches and elephantine oversea monsters lurking wrong a labyrinthine existent forest. We emotion nan anthropomorphised talking bins that plead (in a haunting, perpetual sing-song) for crumpled pieces of insubstantial to beryllium shoved into their suction-powered mouths. We emotion nan inventive rides that, variously, judder on rattling woody tracks, plunge cursed pirate ships into water, aliases nudge gondolas serenely done sylvan scenes of bum-flashing goblins showering beneath waterfalls.

But our very favourite point astir nan spot mightiness good beryllium nan poffertjes stand, a perennially engaged stalls wherever exhausted families stitchery for dinky insubstantial boats filled pinch these yeast-puffed and sugar-dusted miniature buckwheat pancakes that are a Dutch institution. Made to bid successful a vast, uniformly indented pan, speared done their light, custardy middles pinch toothpicks and served pinch a heavy swoop of ray butter, they ever punctual an acute, grunting benignant of shared pleasance and succour. Poffertjes (pronounced a small for illustration “poffeh-tyuss”) are nan dangled prize for nan 4 of us; a reliable salve to nan jittery overstimulation-loop that only themed leisure environments tin provide. When we cajoled nan blubbering eight-year-old connected to a haunted location attraction that past promptly collapsed down (I ideate this communicative will beryllium tearfully described to a therapist 1 day), a shared information of a dozen, ethereally lukewarm poffertjes was really we chose some to apologise and collectively soothe our jangled nerves.

Flash guardant to a twelvemonth aliases truthful aft my first brushwood pinch poffertjes, and I was backmost successful our south-east London kitchen, trying to contrive a measurement to make Nigerian puff-puff without deep-frying. This, for nan uninitiated, is simply a rather different, almost-soundalike snack that nevertheless delivers a likewise potent deed of pleasure. West African successful root (and besides known arsenic bofrot), puff-puff are nan bulbous, gratifyingly chewy Nigerian type of nan yeasted driblet doughnuts that galore different nutrient cultures look to person a beloved type of. Puff-puff are peddled astatine Lagos roadsides, and are often whipped up to toast births and commemorate deaths. They are a spongey, sugar-glistened champion among nan “small chop” snacks astatine a lavish Nigerian party; nan point my mother seldom leaves nan location without nan rudimentary ingredients for. Ask astir nan lipid levels successful her car and you could easy beryllium referring to nan elephantine vessel of Crisp ‘N Dry that has imperishable residence successful her boot.

Puff-puff are ever deep-fried: a sticky, aerated mixed that’s plopped into a generously poured, roiling cookware of lipid pinch either a woody spoon aliases (if you are a due West African matriarch) a dextrous hand. This wouldn’t do for my circumstantial puff-puff purposes – a cooking objection wherever deep-frying wasn’t imaginable – truthful I had to deliberation laterally. And that is erstwhile I thought of poffertjes or, rather, a hybrid type of puff-puff pancakes, excessively bully to beryllium eaten only astatine meal or, for that matter, successful nan hallucinatory wilds of a Dutch amusement park.

Puff-puff pancakes

Serves 8

4 tsp dried progressive yeast (about 13g)
120g granulated sugar, positive 1 tbsp extra
350ml lukewarm water, aliases lukewarm beverage for a deeper flavour
380g plain flour
½ tbsp salt
¼ tsp crushed cardamom
½ tsp grated nutmeg
Neutral oil, for frying
75g icing sugar
½ tsp crushed cinnamon

Whisk nan dried progressive yeast pinch a tablespoonful of granulated sweetener and nan lukewarm water, past group speech for 10 minutes, until afloat bloomed and foamy.

Meanwhile, successful a ample vessel harvester nan plain flour, salt, nan remaining 120g granulated sugar, crushed cardamom and grated nutmeg. Make a good successful nan middle, move successful nan foamed yeast operation and operation to make a soft batter. Cover pinch a mates of clean, damp beverage towels and time off astatine room somesthesia for astir 45 minutes, aliases until nan mixed has doubled successful size (it should beryllium rather bedewed and tacky).

Put a dribble of neutral lipid successful a wide, nonstick frying cookware connected a medium-high heat, then, moving successful batches, fry tablespoon-sized dollops of nan substance for 2 to 3 minutes per side, until puffed into chubby, golden-brown pucks. Set speech connected a large, warmed sheet while you navigator nan rest.

Finish by mixing nan icing sweetener and cinnamon, past particulate this operation complete nan apical of nan pancakes pinch a sieve. Eat arsenic they are aliases pinch jam, curd, cocoa dispersed aliases chopped seasonal fruit.