🍰 DESSERT
Ditjhedi tsa Mokopu (Basotho Pumpkin Fritters)
Mashed cooked pumpkin beaten with egg, flour, a little sugar and baking powder, fried by the spoonful until golden and rolled in cinnamon sugar while hot.
Basotho · easy · serves 6
prep 15 min · cook 40 min
~235 cal · 4g protein · 27g carbs · 13g fat · 1g fiber · 5g sugars · 2g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
↓ Jump to Recipe
AI-generated illustration
Mokopu, pumpkin, is part of the Basotho table on special days: at celebrations and funerals in Lesotho it is served mashed and sweetened with sugar and cinnamon beside fried chicken, papa, beetroot, slaw and tomato gravy. Turned into little fried cakes it becomes ditjhedi tsa mokopu, pumpkin fritters, a sweet treat made in Lesotho and by Sesotho-speaking cooks across the border in South Africa.
The fritters are a meeting of the region's abundant pumpkins with the Dutch habit of frying small cakes, and in Afrikaans they are called pampoenkoekies. Cooked pumpkin is mashed smooth, bound with an egg and a little flour, lightened with baking powder and dropped by the spoonful into hot oil.
They are eaten hot, dusted with cinnamon sugar, as a dessert or a treat, and they are just as good cold. In South Africa they are also served with syrup or caramel sauce instead of cinnamon sugar.
Saved recipes and passport stamps are kept on this device. Sign in to keep them across your devices and leave reviews.
Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and dairy-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
- 700 g pumpkin or butternut, peeled and cubed, to give about 2 cups mashed
- 1 egg
- 1 cup (130 g) plain flour
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp sugar, plus 3 tbsp for the cinnamon sugar
- a pinch salt
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- about 1 cup vegetable oil, for shallow frying
Instructions
- 1Boil or steam the pumpkin for 15 to 20 minutes until very soft. Drain it well, let it steam dry for a few minutes, then mash it smooth and let it cool slightly.✎ Chef’s noteWatery pumpkin makes fritters that spread and soak up oil. If the mash looks wet, stir it in the dry pan over low heat for a minute or two.
- 2Beat the egg into the mashed pumpkin, then stir in the flour, baking powder, 1 tbsp sugar and the salt to make a thick batter.
- 3Mix the remaining 3 tbsp sugar with the cinnamon on a plate.
- 4Heat about 2 cm of oil in a heavy frying pan over medium heat. Drop in spoonfuls of batter, a few at a time, and fry for 2 to 3 minutes per side until golden brown.
- 5Drain on paper, then roll or sprinkle the hot fritters with the cinnamon sugar. Serve hot, or cold later.
Basotho home tradition, shared with South Africa.
Ratings & reviews
Cooked it? Rate this dish:
No account needed. Sign in to leave a full review with a comment.
Cooked it?
Kept on this device, no account needed. Sign in to leave a review and keep your passport across your devices.
No reviews yet, be the first to cook it.
🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Maseru. The whole country lies above 1,400 metres, the only one in the world of which that is true, and the cooking answers the cold: stiff porridge, beans, slow-stewed meat and sour milk that keeps without refrigeration. Sorghum is grown as much for the traditional beer as for the pot.
🗺️
Lesotho. Lesotho is the only country in the world lying entirely above 1,400 metres, and the cooking answers that: everything is slow, everything is hot, and nothing is wasted. Likhobe, stamped whole grain boiled long, is the third staple alongside papa and sorghum porridge, and moroho is often finished with a splash of soured milk.
🌍
Africa. Africa's fifty-four nations hold cuisines as different as Morocco's slow-cooked tagines and South Africa's open-fire braai, yet shared threads run through them: ancient grains like millet, sorghum, and teff; stews thickened with groundnut, okra, or palm; and fiery condiments from Tunisian harissa to Ethiopian berbere. Staple starches, fufu, injera, ugali, couscous, anchor communal meals often eaten by hand from a shared dish, where hospitality is a point of honor.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Lesotho
Basotho Chicken Stew with PapaA highland chicken stew served with papa, the stiff maize porridge of Lesotho.
MakoenyaGolden Basotho fat cakes: crisp-edged deep-fried dough balls, soft and lightly sweet inside, sold hot from street stands for breakfast.
NyekoeA filling one-pot of sorghum and beans simmered slow with pumpkin and onion, the warming everyday lunch of the Lesotho highlands.
Browse all Lesotho recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Skillet or frying pan, Steamer.
Storing it: Fried food is best eaten fresh while crisp. Re-crisp leftovers in a hot oven or air fryer; the microwave makes them soft.
Make it a Lesotho meal
Basotho Chicken Stew with PapaDinner
Leting la MabeleDrink
Similar dishes from around the world
ApfelchüechliLiechtenstein
Sonhos de Banana (Banana Fritters)São Tomé and Príncipe
KurmaTrinidad & Tobago
Yovo Doko (Sweet Fritters)Benin
KhabzeyBhutan
PenyaramBrunei
Cuisine
Diet
Vegetarian Recipes from Around the World
Dairy-Free Recipes from Around the World
Nut-Free Recipes from Around the World
Pork-Free Recipes from Around the World
Vegetarian Basotho Recipes
Vegetarian Desserts from Around the World
Dairy-Free Desserts from Around the World
Nut-Free Desserts from Around the World
Frequently asked questions
What is Ditjhedi tsa Mokopu (Basotho Pumpkin Fritters)?
Mashed cooked pumpkin beaten with egg, flour, a little sugar and baking powder, fried by the spoonful until golden and rolled in cinnamon sugar while hot.
Where does Ditjhedi tsa Mokopu (Basotho Pumpkin Fritters) come from?
Ditjhedi tsa Mokopu (Basotho Pumpkin Fritters) is a Basotho dish from Maseru, Lesotho.
Can Ditjhedi tsa Mokopu (Basotho Pumpkin Fritters) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Ditjhedi tsa Mokopu (Basotho Pumpkin Fritters) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Ditjhedi tsa Mokopu (Basotho Pumpkin Fritters) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Ditjhedi tsa Mokopu (Basotho Pumpkin Fritters) take to make?
About 55 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 40 minutes cooking), serving 6.
Get the Sunday Spin
One dish from somewhere in the world, in your inbox every Sunday. No spam, just dinner inspiration you can cook that day.