Vetkoek (South African Fried Bread)
South Africa
Senior Editor
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Vetkoek is a yeasted dough, flattened by hand and deep-fried until it is crisp outside and soft as bread inside. The Afrikaans name translates literally as fat cake, and the isiZulu and isiXhosa name is amagwinya. It is one of the most widely eaten things in South Africa. Its lineage is Dutch. Fried yeast dough came to the Cape with Dutch settlers, and vetkoek belongs to the same broad family as the Dutch oliebol, the Caribbean johnnycake and Mexican sopaipillas. What happened to it afterwards is what makes it South African: it became township food and street food, sold from stalls and windows across the country, and its usual filling, curried beef mince, is itself a product of the Cape's Indian and Cape Malay influence. It is eaten both ways round. Split and stuffed with curried mince, cheese, polony, tinned fish or slaw, it is lunch. Split and spread with syrup, honey or jam, it is a sweet snack with tea. Neither version is more authentic than the other. Note that this page covers plain vetkoek. The filled version with beef mince curry has a separate page on this site, and the two are meant to complement rather than replace each other.
Vetkoek is a South African deep-fried yeast bread whose Afrikaans name means fat cake, known as amagwinya in isiZulu and isiXhosa. Fried yeast dough arrived at the Cape with Dutch settlers, and the food became a staple of township and street vending across South Africa.
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Combine the lukewarm water, sugar and yeast in a small bowl.
Leave it to stand for about 5 minutes, until the yeast softens and begins to foam. If it does not foam, the yeast is dead and the dough will not rise.
Sift the flour and salt together in a large bowl.
Pour the yeast mixture over the flour and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, 5 to 7 minutes.
Cover the bowl with a clean cloth and leave the dough to rise until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.
Pinch off a piece of dough roughly the size of a tennis ball and roll it smooth.
Flatten the ball to about the size of your palm and set it aside on a floured surface. Repeat with the rest of the dough.
Bring the oil to 350°F / 175°C in a deep pan or fryer.
Fry two or three pieces at a time until deep golden, about 3 minutes per side. Do not crowd the pan.
Drain on kitchen paper and serve warm, split and filled or spread as you like.
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