You must be thinking, Dunni is at it again. Which one is Moringa Puff Puff? Well, Matcha, the super green tea powder has been coming up lately in my Instagram timeline, and you know that when something about Easter (matcha is from Japan) or Western cuisine piques my interest, I try to see how I can make it Nigerian. Most of the pictures I have been seeing from ice cream to Latte’s to bread, beignets and other baked goods always had this lovely and pleasant shade of green, I almost drove to Holland and Barett one night to buy Matcha. I had tasted it at the International Food Festival in London early this year and it reminded me of wheatgrass. The world has gotten crazy for Matcha. You can say that Moringa is a close alternative, and as with most things African, we are sadly always late to the game. Moringa is gaining ground though, and one of the people leading the movement are the team at Aduna. They are a company situated in London, marketing Baobab and Moringa in these absolutely beautiful packaging. They have made these two products trendy, gaining the attention of the Hemsley sisters and most of all, getting to the top of their category in Richard Branson’s Pitch to Rich competition
Image credit: www.aduna.com
They kindly sent me samples of these super foods and when the matcha bug bit me, before i could grab my keys and head out, I remembered that the Aduna team sent me these products to review and thought hmmmmn, Moringa is a green powder, why don’t I start with that and see how it turns out. Moringa can be used in smoothies, lattes, breakfast cereals etc, but in true Dooney’s Kitchen style, I wanted to go where no one has been before. Add Moringa to puff puff. I wanted to create that pretty green colour, i had seen on baked goods infused with Matcha. I woke up way too early today and decided to try out the batter with Moringa, and would you believe, that just as I was mixing, I opened Instagram and the first thing I saw was a picture of The French Beignets, being sprinkled with Matcha. I had a good laugh. Beignets ( pronounced bain-yay) are the French equivalent of Puff Puff.
Moringa powder is quite strong and I didn’t want to detest my creation, so I kept searching my cupboards for items that would stand up to it, especially to mask the bitterness. I thought of honey and shelved the idea immediately. I thought of chocolate chips and as I was rifling through my cupboards, my fingers hit the tube of condensed milk that I had and I though ah ha!!!! This is my answer. Thanks to Labelle of @foodace that had mentioned earlier that milk makes your Puff Puff creamy, I thought to myself, using condensed milk, i get the best of both worlds, creamy and sweet. In trying to add other spices and flavours to this batter, I believe I have created my best Puff Puff recipe till date.
You can choose to omit the moringa if you want, just to try this amazeballs puff puff recipe, but you will be missing out on that fresh, green, herby flavour that moringa powder brings to this recipe. The choice is yours. Let’s Cook
- 1 cup + 3 quarters of a cup of plain flour
- ½ - 1 teaspoon of Moringa powder - alternatively you can use well steeped Moringa tea
- ¼ cup of sweetened condensed milk
- ¼ cup of sugar
- ¼ teaspoon of grated nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon of dry pepper - cayenne pepper
- A pinch or two of Salt
- A dash or two of Vanilla
- 3 - ⅓ cups of warm water
- 1 sachet of fast acting yeast - 7g of fast acting yeast
- Combine all the ingredients in a bowl, except the moringa and water -
- Add the moringa powder. The reason i left out the moringa was, i started with ¼ of a teaspoon first, then i worked my way to half a teaspoon
- After I added the warm water, I couldn't taste or see the Moringa powder as much, so I added another 1.4 teaspoon and then another, making the total, 1 teaspoon.
- Cover wtih a damp cloth and leave in a warm place for 45mins to 1 hour or even longer, to allow the dough to rise. You will appreciate the pretty green moringa colour after it has risen
- The rest is standard. heat up enough oil to deep fry, either scoop with your hands, a spoon or an ice cream scoop and deep fry the batter until you get golden delicious balls.
- Wondering what the puff puff looks like inside, well here you go. Doesn't it look really pretty
Can you see a little hint of green peeking through
Try my Moringa puffs and let me know what you think. If you have access to this Moringa powder, which you can order from Aduna.com and you can also order Matcha, I would suggest you buy them, as I will be working closely with those two in the nearest future. We are going to have such fun with them, you’ll see. This Puff Puff’s are just the beginning.
Oh Wow, green puff puff. Amazing Dunni
Yes oooo. Green Puff Puff
Dooney please do a post on The Anioma/Ika..of Delta State’s Ujuju soup.
i can’t find the ujuju leaves anywhere near me
Please eh use measurement in grams/kg next time o. This cups is hard work for some of us. I wish I checked the recipe before wanting to make it
I don’t have a weighing scale . I use measuring cups
I didn’t do a moringa puff puff just a normal one and I loved the taste. Thank you, although I didn’t use all the water in the recipe. I used half of it as I found it was going watery or should I have used it all because my puff puff as usual had too much oil on the crust which I needed extra kitchen paper for.
You have made me a disloyal follower to my previously favourite food blog 🙂
How can i fry my puff puff in future and prevent it from getting greasy
puff puff soaks up oil when the oil isn’t hot enough in the first place. so i suggest that you fry one or two first to gauge the temperature of the oil first. if they turn out right, then fry the a big batch
Hi Dunni. Amazing stuff! But the puff puff has been eluding me. First my yeast died so had to get a new can. Now, my mixture seems to be sticky after mixing. Do you mean 3 cups of water + 1/3 cup of water or three 1/3 cups of water?
Hi, sorry to hear that. I meant three 1/3 cups of water