Did You Know Number 12

Posted Tue, 21 Dec 2010 (17 months ago)

With Christmas less than a week away, we decided to focus on FOOD for this week's 'Did You Know?' - South African food of course!

Do You Know # 12

What do the following 5 South African dish names refer to?

Umngqsho - a traditional Xhosa dish made from white maize and sugar beans.

Umngqsho Image & Recipe

Waterblommetjie bredie - a meaty stew with flowers from Cape pondweed (yummier than it sounds!)

Waterblommetjie bredie Image & Recipe

Bobotie - A Cape Malay fragrant curry made with mince, mashed potato, raisins and a beaten egg on top - served with yellow rice, coconut, chutney and sliced banana.

Bobotie Image & Recipe

Vetkoek - (Zulu name is Amagwinya) is a deep fried dough ball that can be stuffed with various fillings such as meat or jam.

Vetkoek Image & Recipe

Koeksister or Koesister - a plait of sweet dough deep fried and dripping with syrup. The traditional Cape Malay version (Koesister) is spicier and dusted with coconut.

Aside: There is a heated debate around which version of the word is correct.

Wikipedia says: A koeksister or koesister comes from the Dutch word koekje, the diminutive of koek meaning "cake" - this definition is from A Dictionary of South African English, Jean Bradford, Oxford, 1978.

From what I've been told growing up, the koeksister with a second 'K' is the Afrikaner version while the Koesister is the Cape Malay version...

Koeksisters Image & Recipe

4 Responses to Did You Know Number 12

The fact that there is not an official Dutch version of this delicacy says that the Dutch only started making it after they saw the Malay "slaves" making it, and I am going to risk assuming that the Afrikaner version was a flopped recipe version that was then "uniquified" to save face.. named after the original as per the first attempt, and as with the rest of the "Afrikaans" language given its own identity.. but it's koesiestes no matter what you do

By Arthur Charles Van Wyk (17 months ago)

Hi Arthur, the generally accepted version is that the Malay koe'sisters were the round, fried dumplings rolled in cinammon sugar, whilst the later Dutch version of koeksisters were made by plaiting (or twisting) the dough, frying, then plunging into a very sweet syrup. Both delicious and both simply quite fattening - perfect Nigella midnight feast food! Cheers Liz

By liz (17 months ago)

The debate about the word is ancient history by now. Koesister (withouth the k) is fried dough with coconut and cinnamon, while the koeksister (with the k) refers to fried dough plaited and drenched in syrup. They are two different things, thus two names are needed. The fact that they both originated from the mixing of cultures and cuisine in the Cape centuries ago is a wonderful historical quirk!

By Koes vir die sister (17 months ago)

Huh? i never even HEARD of koesisters. Koeksisters, yeah.
Mmmmmmmm.... syrupy goodness..... though koesisters sound pretty much yum too. I MISS SA FOOD!!!!!!! These English have no idea, i'm telling you :-( it's like seasoning is a foreign concept to them.

By Vicki (17 months ago)