African beignets, also known as mikate in Congo, puff-puff in western Africa, are a very popular dessert/snack in Africa. These beignets come with a mango sauce with mint leaves. They are so delicious; I could eat them at any time of the day. Contrary to New Orleans beignets, the mikate are made with just flour and sugar, which are dipped fried later on.
Both of my grandmothers would make and sell them in front of their houses. I used to wait for the ones that just came out of the fryer and couldn’t wait to eat them. I mostly ate them with peanuts or peanut butter.
I have been researching for a while for another condiment that would complement these beignets well. It is not a secret that I love mangoes. So, I just thought of pureed mango and adding herbs to it to bring another flavour. That is one thing that I find amazing about mango. It is so versatile; there are a lot of things that you can do with it. Here is a great mango recipe that you can try.
What yeast do you use for this recipe?
There are so many different ways to make African beignets. Some people use baking powder to help the dough make the perfect round shape. Others prefer to use active yeast and let the dough rest for several hours to triple its volume. Here is a great recipe with active yeast.
The most popular recipe is the one with active yeast. However, I prefer to use self-rising flour for mine. The first reason is because I don’t like to wait for hours for my dough to be ready. It is so much faster to use self-rising flour and you don’t run into not having your dough rise properly (which has happened to me so many times!). The second reason is that I don’t like the taste of active yeast. I feel like the beignets have a strong yeast taste that I don’t enjoy. It competes with the flavors from the mango sauce and the combination is not as succulent. Leaving that dough to rise for 4-6 hours only makes the yeast taste stronger.
Again, this is a personal preference. If you don’t mind that taste, by all means use active yeast.
How do I make African beignets (mikate, puff-puff)?
It is very simple. I put my flour in a bowl and make a hole in the middle.
I pour the sugar in that hole and start adding the lukewarm water progressively while incorporating the flour.
Once I have poured all the water, I start to vigorously mix the dough. It is a great arm work out! LOL
You will know that the dough is ready when air bubbles start bursting while mixing.In a small pot or fryer, heat up the oil to 350F. The oil needs to be hot but NOT smoking hot.
Start by putting a little bit of dough with your fingers or small spoon. Whatever way you prefer. The hot oil and the yeast from the flour will help from those perfect round shapes. Just try to make a lump before you dump the dough in the oil carefully and gently.
They get fried pretty fast, so once you start making them you should stay put and turn them once in a while to make sure that they get browned all around.
When they come out of the fryer, I put a paper towel on the plate to absorb the extra oil. Do not put on a lid or cover them right away when they are hot because that would cause moisture that would make them squishy.
How do you store African beignets?
Once cooled to room temperature, I put them in an air-tight container. You should eat them in the next 24-36 hours max.
How do you make mango sauce?
I love this mango sauce! You can eat it with fried chicken and fish also. It is a perfect sauce for anything fried in my opinion. This sauce takes 5 minutes to make.
I peel the mango and discard the seed, then cut the flesh in pieces. I add the mint leaves and a little bit of salt to enhance the flavours, and I use a hand blender to puree it. Voila!
These beignets are best eaten warm.
African beignets (puff puff) with mango sauce
- Prep Time: 10 min
- Cook Time: 25 min
- Total Time: 35 min
- Yield: 6 1x
- Category: Dessert, appetizers
- Method: Frying
- Cuisine: african
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
African beignets (puff puff) made with self rising flour.
Ingredients
For beignets
- 4 cups of self-rising flour
- 1 cup of granulated sugar
- 1 ½ cup of lukewarm water
- 1 Tbsp of vanilla extract
Mango sauce with mint
- 1 mango
- 4 strings of mint
- A dash of salt
Instructions
For beignets:
- In a mixing bowl, put the flour and make a hole in the middle.
- Put the sugar in hole.
- Progressively add your water while mixing everything with the spoon to eliminate any lumps of flour.
- Mix it well vigorously, until you see air bubbles forming and bursting on your dough. It means that your yeast is activated. This can take a good 5 min.
- Turn on your deep fryer and let the temperature get to 375 F or you can use a small pot with your vegetable oil.
- With clean hands or a small spoon or ice cream spoon, get some batter and put in your fryer in batches.
- Do not overcrowd the fryer, otherwise the temperature will drop and they will absorb more oil.
- Turn them once they are golden brown. This shouldn’t take more than 3 min per batch.
- With a slotted spoon, remove your beignets and place them on a dish that has a paper towel at the bottom.
- Serve them warm or at room temperature.
For mango sauce:
- Remove the skin from the mango. Cut the flesh and put in a bowl. Discard the stem.
- Put it in a bowl with the salt and mint leaves.
- Mix it with hand blender until smooth.
You may also like:
Sorrel (Ngayi ngayi) salad recipe
Homemade light chicken broth recipe
These were absolutely delicious! Much easier to make than I anticipated. That mango sauce can be eaten by the spoon full!!!
I am glad that you like it!
This puff puff recipe can compete with beignets anyday. I love the suggestion of eating them with seed or nut butter.
Those combinations are classics. 🙂
What a fun little treat! I love the story to go along with them too.
I’m obsessed with your mango sauce!! I’m currently on a diet but made the sauce for some fish last night and now I can’t wait to try it with the beignets for a cheat meal 🙂
That’s right. That mango sauce goes with lots of dishes.
These were so delicious and fun to make! Thank you for sharing!
you are welcome!
Awesome recipe! We are definitely going to try this cause it looks amazing. Love that you’ve used self-raising flour instead of active yeast. Definitely cuts out a fair bit of work without it. I don’t mind the taste to active yeast but I do hate the smell!
These are fantastic. I really love the mango sauce!
I have never heard of these before, but now I know I need to make them, that mango and mint sauce sounds scrumptious too!
I am so excited to make this recipe because I love doughnuts and because it is an African dish!
yesss!
My hometown friend always use to make these for me (just without the mango sauce). They always seemed so hard to make. These look amazing and the recipe really breaks it down.
Using the self rising flour simplifies the recipe. They were probably using yeast which is a different process.
My family is from Ghana and we love making/eating puff puff! I’ll have to try it with the mango sauce! Sounds delicious!
Let me know how they turn out!
These were so easy to make! And the mango sauce was SO perfect with them!
Thank you!
What a fun treat! My daughter and I loved making these and loved EVEN more devouring these mini sweet treats!
Thank you!
So I’d never heard of this before but decided to give it a try and it was so delicious! I was shocked as to how fluffy the beignets were and that mango and mint sauce is literally to die for!! This was absolutely amazing!
YAY! Thank you so much!
These turned out so well! My whole family enjoyed them!
I am so glad! 🙂
Beignet’s are my favorites. We also make them in the French Caribbean where some of my family is from. But the mango sauce put these over the top. I am glad I bit the bullet and tried a new version.
Thank you so much for trying! I am glad you liked it!
This was my first time making African beignets and thanks to your recipe it was a success!
Thank you!
I’ve grown up eating puff puff and had never had it with mango sauce. It was delicious! Thanks for this recipe.
Definitely not a common combination for sure. But I wanted to bring a change my childhood puff puff. I am glad you like it!
I don’t think I’ve ever had puff puffs, but they were so easy and tasty to make and eat. I especially loved the mango sauce with them.
Thank you!
The texture of these beignets was perfect! I love the addition of mint to the mango! Great idea!
I am glad you like it! Thanks!
These were so easy and delicious ! Thank you for the easy to follow recipe!
You are welcome!
I liked the mango sauce recipe. But can you make beignets with cassava flour and not what is fufu.
Thank you! I have never made beignets with cassava flour. Since it is a gluten free flour, it might require some tweaking to get it to rise. Fufu is something different and the process is also different. On the other hand, fufu can be made with cassava flour and so many others. I hope I have answered your question:)
Merci beaucoup pour cette belle recette et de partager avec nous tes souvenirs 😉 J’adore.
Merci!
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Thank you! I believe it is WordPress. I have someone helping me with this but I am not totally sure. Hope it helps.
thank you so much!