This Cape Town favourite brings back memories of working at the Castle of Good Hope. I would sneak away whenever I had a chance to buy a half dozen of these delectable treats. The various stalls on the Parade would showcase their koesisters and people would line up to buy them. The smell of the spices resonating from the stalls was enough to drive you crazy. Not to be confused with the Afrikaner plaited koeksister, which I love just as much. The Cape Malay koeksisters are infused with festive spices, coated with sugar syrup and desiccated coconut. It's like taking a bite of Christmas all year long.
Ingredients
For the Koesisters
- 700 g all-purpose flour
- 60 ml sugar
- 5 ml baking powder
- 5ml ml salt
- 10 g instant dry yeast
- 7 ml ground cinnamon
- 7 ml ground ginger
- 7 ml whole aniseed
- 2 ml ground cloves
- 2 ml fine cardamom
- zest of two naartjies (Satsuma Orange)
- 300 ml lukewarm water
- 250 ml lukewarm milk
- 3 tbsp butter, melted
- 1 egg, lightly beated
- oil for frying
- 200 g desiccated coconut
For the syrup
- 3 Cups water
- 3 Cups sugar
- 2 ml fine cardamom
- 6 cassia sticks
Instructions
Koesisters
- Mix the flour, yeast, sugar, salt, naartjie zest and all the spices in a mixing bowl.
- Add the milk, water, butter and egg and mix well to form a wet dough.
- Cover the dough and allow it to rise until double in volume.
- Knock the dough back and turn it out on a well-floured surface.
- With floured hands, form the dough into oval shapes (about 50g in weight) and place on floured trays. Leave a little space between the koesisters to allow for rising
- Allow the koesister to rise for 15 minutes then start to heat the oil for deep frying.
- Deep fry the koesister until a dark golden brown, remove with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel.
Syrup
- Add all the ingredients to a saucepan and bring to a boil.
- Reduce until the syrup forms a film on the back of a spoon. Too thick a consistency will stop the koesisters from absorbing the syrup.
- Dip the koesisters in the hot syrup for about a minute and coat with desiccated coconut. Add a bit of hot water to the syrup after each batch to prevent the syrup from thickening too much.
- Serve with tea or coffee on those lazy Sundays.
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