Pani keke

I'm not the best at speaking Tongan or keeping the culture alive in our daily activity, but I try my best to do what I can for my kids and myself.

In the past couple of years I've tried my best to attempt some traditional dishes so that our kids would be familiar with them and that they would learn little by little, here and there, what's a part of our culture.

This is the best keke recipe that i have found ( that I've made) that was quick and easy and delicious to boot!

The interesting thing about keke, is that it's not just a part of Tongan culture, but the rest of Polynesia makes this or their version as well. You know what else? Europeans (Germans and swedes & I'm sure others)  make this, Okinawans have their version and guess who else, Nigerians! They call it Puff Puff, or Kpof Kpof. I watched a video of the Nigerian recipe and it's exactly the same as Tongans make it, right down to dropping it in the pan with their hand! Isn't that interesting?



I wonder where the recipe originated and how it happened to end up in vast countries around the world?

Here is the recipe, which I doubled .  I got it from  panipopos.blogspot.com. Hope you have as much fun making them as you do eating them.  I sure did!


Panikeke (makes 13)
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
water
oil for frying


Heat up your oil over medium heat, then as soon as it starts to get shimmery, turn the heat down low. If you have anything as fancy as a thermometre in your kitchen, heat the oil to somewhere between 320°F and 356°F (160°C to 180°C).

You don't have to wait for your oil to get to temperature before mixing your batter. It'll take you less than five minutes, so go ahead and sift the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Add the egg and milk, then mix everything up with enough water to form a thick batter. You know, I want to call this a batter because we're making pancakes, but it's actually more like a wet dough. See the video if you're not sure what consistency it should be.

Fry tablespoonfuls in the oil for 3-5 minutes until they're dark golden brown. If your oil is too high, the panikeke will be uncooked on the inside. If your oil is too low you'll have greasy panikeke. So every couple of batches, break one open to make sure it's cooked through, and eat it if you really must.