Nigerian buns are a delicious and authentic treat that both kids and adults love. However, the bun recipe is more complicated than many other Nigerian desserts like puff puff, which is why many home cooks are intimidated by it. Find out how to make Nigerian buns with a recipe that always works!
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1. Ingredients for buns
As always, before you learn how to prepare Nigerian buns, first you need to get your ingredients ready. Here is what you’ll need for the original Nigerian buns recipe.
- Flour – 250 grams
- Milk or water – 150ml
- Egg – 1
- Margarine or butter – 1tbsp
- Sugar – 1tbsp
- Salt – 1tsp
- Baking powder – 1tsp
- Vegetable oil for frying
A couple of quick notes on how to make sweet buns at home: the batter needs to be quite thick for the formation of perfect buns, which is why you may need less milk or water. Egg is also an optional ingredient: most of the Nigerian buns you buy in the street are cooked without eggs, but you can add an egg to your batter to make it look better and taste richer.
2. How to make sweet buns at home
Ready to make your very own batch of delicious buns? Here is how to make Nigeria buns at home.
- In a large bowl mix the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar.
- In a separate bowl whisk together the egg, water or milk, and softened margarine.
- Combine the contents of two bowls and start mixing the dough. Mix until you achieve a smooth and stretchy consistency.
- Cover the batter with a clean cloth and let it rest for 10 minutes.
- Heat up the vegetable oil in a frying pan. The oil should be hot, but not smoking hot – otherwise your buns will be brown on the outside and raw on the inside.
- When the oil is sufficiently hot, start cooking the buns by scooping equal amounts of batter and dropping them into the oil. At first the batter will sink to the bottom of the pan, but then it will float to the surface.
- It can take the buns up to 20 minutes to cook. You can tell by the golden brown colour of the buns that they are ready.
- Put the buns on a paper towel to remove excess oil and serve hot or cold.
- If you have some leftover batter, lower the heat and let the oil cool off a bit so that the next batch of buns doesn’t get burned.
This is how to make buns at home the traditional Nigerian way. Buns taste best when eaten with hot or cold beverages. You can also take them to work or pack them for your children as a school snack.
3. Other ways to make Nigerian buns
There are many ways of how to prepare buns that differ on your tastes or the ingredients you have. Here are two most popular varieties of Nigerian buns.
1. Now to make Nigerian buns without eggs
Nigerian buns are a beloved street food, and buns sold in the street are usually made without eggs. By leaving the egg out of your bun recipe, you will get a tougher dough that is easier to cook: instead of scooping the batter with a spoon, you can form balls of dough with slightly wet hands.
2. How to make Nigerian buns with yeast
To make your Nigerian buns resemble bread, you can make them with yeast. In that case you will use yeast instead of baking powder. First dissolve the yeast and some sugar in warm water. Then continue preparing the dough the regular way and leave the dough to rise until it doubles in size. Proceed to fry the buns in hot oil as you’d do with no-yeast buns and serve.
Hungry for more authentic Nigerian recipes? Here are two more for you:
How to make Nigerian puff puff
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