Puff Puff recipe from Tinuke

There is nothing that screams Nigeria to me like puff puff. It’s one of my favourite foods of all time. Honestly, there are times I wish I lived in London again purely so I could be in closer proximity to a good Nigerian takeaway where I could pick these up on the way home. Puff puff gives me life. 

If you’ve not tried puff puff before, firstly, let me say you have not lived. Go rectify that. If you can’t go and buy yourself a bag, then make sure you give the recipe at the end of this post a try and make it yourself. It’s actually pretty simply. If you’re reading this when I wrote it (during the COVID-19 lockdown) you probably have more time on your hands than you’re used to, even if you’re working full time from home, you’ve got the commute time free, so why not cook up a batch of these delicious, warm doughy balls of goodness. If you’ve ever wondered how to make this Nigerian sparty and street food yourself, this is the post for you.

Puff puff isn’t something I grew up eating at home. My kids are bloody lucky they have me cooking it for them at the drop of a hat. When I was younger, puff puff was the reserve of weddings and large gatherings such as birthday parties. They were never cooked by the host, but rather they were during catered events where a huge cooler full of them would be brought, still warm and ready to be devoured. 

As a young girl, I would look forward to this and a spicy moi moi that would be served at family events. My parents would be busy speaking Yoruba. A language I didn’t understand and still understand very little of. I’d spend the evening in a sea of people talking in a language that left me out of conversations and it didn’t even matter too tough because I had the food! And my cousins, of course, who would all be talking and playing. 

Because I’d never had puff puff at home, I’d always thought it was hard to make. But, when I was pregnant with my first child, I told my mum I had a major craving for it and low and behold, she made it for me! My mum is Dominican. She’s from the Caribbean so it’s not even something she grew up making. Which made me realise, like with most foods, if you take the time out to learn how to do it right, you can make it yourself. 

Thanks to the powers of Youtube and the internet as a whole, I tried and tested loads of recipes over the years and have at last, found a really simple one that I’ve adopted as my go to puff puff recipe. It’s really easy to make and we’ve had plates full of puff puff to accompany movie nights during the COVID lockdown.

Making puff puff calls for quite a lot of oil. So keep that in mind. This is one of the reasons we can go ages without making it. The puff puff itself won’t be too greasy so don’t worry. 

How to make puff puff

Ingredients

• 3 cups of plain flour
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon instant yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 & 1/2 cups warm water
• enough oil for deep frying

Method

Mix all of the dry ingredients in a bowl until fully incorporate.

Add water and mix with wooden spoon or your hand

Cover with a clean kitchen towel and leave somewhere warm for the yeast to work its magic for at least 30 minutes

Dough should be full of bubbles

Fill a saucepan with at least 4 inches of oil and heat

Scoop puff-puff dough in your hands or with an icecream scoop and drop gently into the hot oil

Fry until golden brown

Place cooked puff-puff onto a plate covered with kitchen paper or greaseproof paper

Eat whilst still warm!

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Enjoy this recipe? After you pin it, why don’t you check out this gooey oatmeal raisin cookie recipe next?