Koeksusters or cook sisters

ANY South African LIKES/LOVES this…..if you don’t like it…you are NOT a South African, that is how you can identify a person that’s NOT a South African..hehe…click on the link, get yourself this recipe and spoil yourself!! I’ve copied the post from “cooksister”‘s blog here…enjoy!!
On THIS LINK you will find more South African traditional recipes, like milk tart, scones, sugar cookies (soet koekies), etc.

Recipe and image:  http://cooksister.typepad.com/cook_sister/2004/05/whats_in_a_name.html

As any South African visitor will have noticed, my blog’s name is somewhat of a pun – if you happen to understand Afrikaans! Back home in SA we have a sweet pastry known as a “koeksuster” (literally translated as “cake sister” and pronounced “cook-sister”). The name comes form the Dutch koek (cake) and sissen (sizzle) – presumable a reference to their being deep fried. It is one of the few things which, despite the huge South African population in London, I have not seen in mainstream stores. This is not to say that someone, somewhere is not producing them in England – I just have not come across them.

So what exactly is a koeksuster? Well, the best analogy I can find is with doughnuts as they are also sweet doughy fritters, but that’s as far as the similarity goes. With koeksusters, the dough is rolled out flat and then plaited in 6cm lengths, deep-fried and then soaked in syrup and chilled overnight. They are absolutely delicious with tea or coffee and I have also seen miniature koeksusters served in lieu of petit fours. Below is a recipe, if you are in the mood for getting plaiting! But there is something of a dispute raging as to the provenance of these teatime treats.

On the one hand, we have the Afrikaans community who hold koeksusters dear and say that they were invented by their forebears as they colonised the Cape. On the other hand, we have the Cape Malay community who also claim koeksusters as their own, albeit in a somewhat different form – their variety is less sweet, covered with desiccated coconut and twisted as opposed to plaited. The taste is definitely more doughnuty than the Afrikaner version. 

KOEKSUSTERS

The syrup – to be made the day before and left in the fridge to cool.

Ingredients

6 cups of water
24g of root ginger
2.5kg granulated sugar

Method

Boil 3 cups of water with the peeled and sliced root ginger. Remove the ginger and add 3 more cups of water. Bring to boil again. Add the sugar and allow to boil for 5 minutes. Allow to cool and store in fridge. NB – it has to be in the fridge as you need your syrup to be chilled!

For the pastry:

Ingredients

6 cups plain flour
6 teaspoons baking powder
125g of butter
2 eggs
125ml evaporated milk
312ml lukewarm water
a pinch of salt
oil for frying

Mix all the above together and knead well, then leave to rest for 2 hours. Roll the dough flat into an oval/square until it is 5mm thick. Cut the dough into strips 2.5cm across. Then cut these strips into lengths of 6cm so that you are left with rectangles 2.5cm x 6cm Make two cuts along the length of the rectangles so that you can plait them – you are aiming for a plait similar to a 3-strand hair plait. When you have plaited each one, press the three strands together firmly at each end so that they do not come undone. Deep-fry each koeksuster in hot oil until crisp and golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and dip the whole cooked koeksuster immediately into your cool syrup. Remember – the koeksuster has to be hot and the syrup cold in order for the syrup to be absorbed by the dough! Remove from the syrup and allow to cool on a paper towels before eating.

Koeksisterresep II
Stroop: [moet die vorige dag aangemaak word en in die yskas geplaas word om goed af te koel]
Kook saam:
1 kg -1 liter- suiker
5 ml kaneel
2,5 ml gemmer
500 ml water
Deeg:
500 ml Meelblom
30 ml Margarine
25 ml Bakpoeier
100 ml Water
100 ml Melk
knippie Sout
500 ml Olie

Metode:
Verhit die olie baie goed. Meng die droe bestanddele en vryf die margarien in. Meng die melk en water en sny dit in. Rol die deeg dun uit – sowat 5mm. Sny in repe en vleg. Bak albei kante baie goed. Dompel die koeksisters in die yskoue stroop. Laat in die stroop vir omtrent ‘n minuut en verwyder.

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