Amandazi

 

I learned how to make amandazi, Rwanda’s version of fried dough! Although amandazi are at the bottom of my list of delicious international versions of fried dough, learning to make them is at the top of my international culinary experiences list.

It should come as no surprise that I have made great friends with the woman who sells amandazi and fresh bread. Athanasia is hilarious. She is an older, childless, unmarried woman—a rather marginal group in Rwandan society, yet she thrives. I admire her savvy and her wit, and I really enjoy spending time with her. When I visit, she always greets me with a huge hug and two kisses, “Muraho cheri!,” she says with open arms.

I recently confessed my love of all bread related things to Athanasia (as if it weren’t already painfully obvious), and she told me how much she loves chocolate. So we made a deal: she would teach me to make amandazi arachushe (the hot kind) and I would bring her cocoa to put in her milk.

The actual making of the amandazi was left mostly to Isa, a very nice young man who did not need or want much help from Athanasia or myself. He mixed the flour, sugar, yeast, hot water, oil, and eggs into a paste that he then kneaded, and kneaded, and kneaded some more. Then Isa cut the dough into small balls and fried them in oil, lots of oil. Amandazi arachushe: biraryoshe cyane! Delicious!