Fanke

Fanke is a small deep-fried dough ball or round, sold hot as a breakfast or street snack in the Sahel. It is made in Niger and also in neighbouring Nigeria, and it is a plain, yeast-raised dough fried until puffed and golden.

Fanke is simple food with a short list of ingredients that any cook can recognise: flour, yeast, sugar, salt and oil for frying. Vendors sell it from trays or small stalls, often early in the day.

What it really is

Flour, yeast, sugar and salt are mixed into a soft dough and left to rise. The dough is shaped into small balls or rounds and dropped into hot frying oil, where it cooks through and turns golden brown on the outside. The inside is soft and lightly sweet, and the outside has a thin, crisp skin. Fanke is a fried dough, not a cake, and the frying gives it most of its character. The amount of sugar, the size of each piece and the length of the rise vary from cook to cook, so fanke can be dense and small or larger and airier.

How it's served

• Hot from the oil, while the outside is still crisp.
• Eaten by hand, usually as a few pieces at a time.
• Sold for breakfast and on the street, often by the piece or by the handful.

How to write it on the menu

• Name the dish as fanke and describe it as deep-fried dough, so guests know it is not a pastry or a cake.
• Flag wheat, because the flour in the classic dough is wheat flour, and list it as an allergen.
• State the frying oil, and say whether it is shared with other fried items, since cross-contact matters for guests with allergies.
• Sell it by a set number of pieces per portion, because sizes vary from cook to cook.
• Say that it is served hot, since its texture is best straight from the oil.