Puff puff is a local Nigerian snack that most people enjoy and it has a way of making you crave for more of it. Are you a lover of spicy foods? then you might want to know how to make puff puff with pepper.
This article will take you through the step-by-step process of making puff puff with pepper and go the extra mile to help you understand the health benefits that an addition of pepper provides.
Puff puff is a very popular Nigerian snack that everyone loves. It is made from ingredients that includes flour, yeast, sugar, nutmeg, milk flavour which is actually optional and mixed with warm water.
Puff puff is a very delicious snack that you will never get tired of. It has strong Nigerian ties that can never be forgotten. Puff puff is one snack that is popular among all classes of people in Nigeria, whether rich or poor. Everyone loves a good puff puff. Let’s dive into how to make puff puff with pepper.
How To Make Puff Puff With Pepper
Puff puff is very easy to make, you just have to follow the steps one after the other and practice them diligently. Adding pepper to puff puff gained popularity not too long ago and it has increased the health benefits of puff puff up a notch. Some people are still debating the kind of pepper to be added to puff puff.
Some say fresh pepper is the best kind of pepper to be added to puff puff, while others say grounded pepper is best. Pepper is pepper, regardless of whether it is dried and grounded or just freshly sliced. To make sure your puff puff is not too pepperish, grounded dried pepper is best to use. Let’s see the ingredients needed to prepare 5 servings of puff puff.
Puff Puff Ingredients For 5 Servings
- Three (3) cups of flour
- Half (½) teaspoon of salt
- Half (½) teaspoon of ground chilli pepper
- Three (3) tablespoons of sugar
- Two (2) teaspoons of active yeast
- One (1) seed of nutmeg
- Three (3) litres of vegetable oil
Steps On How To Prepare Puff Puff With Pepper
To make sure that your puff puff comes out right, you need to follow the steps stated below. There are many ways to make puff puff go wrong, so let’s avoid that by adhering to the following steps. First of all, before you begin anything, make sure that your hands are properly washed and dried.
Step 1: Measure out two and a half (2 ½) cups of flour into a bowl (200g of flour), add two (2) teaspoons of yeast, ground one (1) seed of nutmeg and add it to the bowl. Add a pinch of salt, 3 tablespoons of sugar and mix them all together. Please ensure that everything inside the bowl is well incorporated together.
Step 2: Measure out 200 ml of preheated water that is now warm to your bowl of dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. To know if the water is enough, check the consistency of your puff puff mixture and make sure it is not too runny or too hard to scoop into your palm. Balance the consistency of the barter by adding the remaining ½ cup of flour if the barter is too runny.
Step 3: Measure out ½ teaspoon of chilli pepper and add it to the mixture. Mix your puff puff mixture thoroughly to ensure that the pepper is well incorporated.
Step 4: Taste the puff puff mixture to know if the salt and sugar is to taste, then go on to add more if need be.
Step 5: At this point, everything is mixed properly and the ingredients are to your taste. Cover the mixture tightly with either foil, nylon or anything that fits the lid of the bowl. Leave it covered for 30 minutes so the yeast has enough time to leaven up the puff puff mixture.
One important point to note is that if the risen mixture is too foamy or has a lot of holes, then you must have used too much yeast. You might get worried at this point but its not all bad because having no holes at all is not good for the puff puff. Let’s proceed with the remaining steps.
Step 6: Set a clean deep fryer on the fire. A deep fryer is very important because puff puff needs to be deep fried to get the right results, plus it needs room to fry all its parts at the same time. And for that, you definitely can’t use a frying pan to achieve it.
Let the pot dry out completely before adding your oil to avoid being bathed in bubbles of oil trying to eradicate droplets of water. Please ensure that the oil is at a depth of 2–3 inches so that the puff puff can have the round shape you are looking for.
Step 7: Allow your oil to heat up for more than 2 minutes. You can also test the temperature of the oil by adding a small bulb of onion to the oil.
Step 8: Take some of the puff puff mixture into your hands and squeeze it into the oil. To make sure you achieve the spherical shape of puff puff, make a circle with your thumb and your index finger and let the puff puff mixture pass out of that circle into the oil.
If you do this well, you will see your puff puff taking the shape of a circle in the oil. Sometimes you might end up with a horn on your puff puff but that’s good as well. You will get better at it as you practice more.
Step 9: After adding one hand of the batter into the oil, observe to see if the puff puff floats after sinking briefly. If it does, go on to add more of the puff puff mixture or batter till the oil is full. If it doesn’t float, wait a bit longer. This is to ensure that the oil is just at the right temperature.
Step 10: After adding the barter to the oil, observe the batter and stir occasionally to ensure that the puff puff barter fries appropriately to the desired brown color.
Note that the heat must not be too much, as it can burn the puff puff without properly cooking it. Also, ensure that you regulate the heat. Regulating it means you turn it down when it is too much and you turn it up when it seems to be getting cool. The downside of an oil that is not hot enough is that it causes the puff puff barter to soak up too much oil, which makes it too oily.
Step 11: Watch the puff puff closely and remove them when they are golden brown and cooked. Strain the oil from the puff puff using a strainer with a bowl or tablecloth underneath.
Health Benefits Of Adding Pepper To Puff Puff
Pepper has a lot of good benefits and it contributes a lot to the overall health of our body. They are packed with large amounts of vitamin C, vitamin A, folic acid, potassium and fibre. One fun fact about pepper is that, despite being spicy, it adds a unique taste to the puff puff. Another amazing thing about pepper is that it is low on calories so you don’t have to worry about it adding more calories to your puff puff. Pepper contributes largely to our good health in various ways, which includes
- Improving the health of the digestive system with its dietary fibre. The presence of fibre in pepper makes it easy to pass out stools, which helps to prevent hemorrhoids.
- It helps to regulate the body’s blood pressure. The ample amount of vitamin C in pepper helps to reduce high blood pressure. Studies have shown that those with a high concentration of vitamin C in their system are less likely to have high blood pressure.
- It helps reduce the risk of diabetes. The high amount of vitamin C in pepper, along with its high component of fibre reduces the rate at which glucose or sugar is being absorbed into the blood stream. Therefore, reducing the blood sugar level of those with type 2 diabetes. Pepper should not only be added to your puff puff if you are diabetic; let it be incorporated into your everyday diet.
Conclusion
Puff puff is a very delicious snack that can be enjoyed with any drink of your choice; it could be yogurt, juice, soda, etc. The processes involved in how to make puff puff with pepper don’t take too long if you do it right.
It takes just one hour and thirty minutes (1 hour and 30 minutes) to make 5 servings; the time is broken down to 45 minutes of preparation and another 45 minutes for cooking or frying the puff puff.
If you want to serve more people, then the time will increase, especially the time it will take you to cook or fry the puff puff. Some people add onions to their puff puff barter while others use onions to garnish the already-fried puff puff.
Puff puff can be enjoyed in different ways, as long as you are willing to be creative about it. Puff puff can be enjoyed with toppings like strawberry jam; this puts your puff puff on a whole different level with the added flavor.
