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Visheti
Visheti: Swahili Eid sweets of fried cardamom dough in a crackly white sugar glaze
Tins of visheti appear in every Swahili home in Zanzibar and Mombasa in the days before Eid, ready for the visitors who drop by after prayers. They are small diamond or finger-shaped pieces of cardamom-and-coconut dough, fried until crisp and then tossed in boiling syrup until it dries to a crackly white shell; inside they stay crunchy with a faint softness at the heart. Kids love them, and they keep for a week in an airtight tin, so they make a good gift. The tricky bit is the glaze: if you stop stirring too early it stays sticky, and too late it turns to lumps of sugar. This version uses butter and milk powder, so it is vegetarian but not vegan. Chef's tip: keep stirring the visheti in the syrup off the heat until the pan suddenly looks cloudy and dry; that is the moment the coating sets.
- Total time
- 60 min
- Difficulty
- medium
- Serves
- 8
Ingredients
For the dough
- 10 ½ oz plain flour
- 2 tbsp milk powder
- 1 tsp ground cardamom
- 2 tbsp sugar
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 ¾ oz butter or gheemelted
- ¾ cup coconut milkabout; plus a splash more if needed
- 4 ¼ cups vegetable oilfor deep frying
For the glaze
- 7 oz sugar
- 4 cardamom podslightly crushed
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What you'll need
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Method
0/8 doneStep 1: Mix 10 ½ oz plain flour, 2 tbsp milk powder, 1 tsp ground cardamom, 2 tbsp sugar, ½ tsp baking powder and 1 pinch salt in a bowl. Pour in 1 ¾ oz butter or ghee and rub it in with your fingertips until the mixture looks like damp sand.
Step 2: Add ¾ cup coconut milk a little at a time and bring it together into a firm, smooth dough that doesn't stick to your hands. It should be stiffer than chapati dough. Cover and rest for 15 minutes.
15 minStep 3: Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to 7–8 mm thick. Cut it into strips 1.5 cm wide, then across into small diamonds or fingers about 3 cm long.
Step 4: Heat 4 ¼ cups vegetable oil in a deep pan to 350°F, or until a scrap of dough rises steadily with gentle bubbles. Fry the visheti in batches, stirring, until pale golden and crisp all over.
15 minStep 5: Lift out with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper. Let them cool for a few minutes.
Step 6: Put 7 oz sugar, 4 cardamom pods and 80 ml water in a wide, clean pan over a medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves, then boil without stirring until the syrup is thick and large bubbles form; a drop pulled between finger and thumb (once cooled) should form a thread.
6 minStep 7: Take the pan off the heat, tip in all the visheti and stir constantly with a wooden spoon. After a minute or two the syrup turns cloudy and then dries to a white crust on each piece; keep stirring until they separate.
3 minStep 8: Spread out on a tray to cool completely, pick out the cardamom pods, and store in an airtight tin.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 380 kcal
- Protein
- 4 g
- Carbs
- 56 g
- Fat
- 16 g
- Fibre
- 1 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does visheti take?
- About 60 minutes in total: 25 minutes to prepare and 35 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 8 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- Can I make it ahead?
- Yes. It keeps well, so you can cook it earlier in the day or the day before and reheat it.
- What can I use instead of plain flour?
- Self-raising flour, same amount (then leave out the baking powder).
- What can I use instead of sugar?
- Caster sugar, same amount.
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