← Nouns Cooking · West & East African

Ingredients

• 1 kg Sugar
• 500 ml Water
• 2 Cinnamon stick
• 3 cm piece Ginger, sliced
• 1 Lemon, zest and juice
• 280 g Plain (all-purpose) flour, plus extra for rolling
• 1 tbsp Baking powder
• ½ tsp Salt
• 50 g Butter, softened
• 1 Eggs, beaten
• 125 ml milk or water
• 1.5 l oil for deep frying

Method

1. Make the syrup a day ahead, or at least 4 hours before: heat the sugar, water, cinnamon and ginger, stirring until the sugar dissolves, then boil for 5 min. Off the heat, add the lemon zest and juice. Cool, then chill until ice-cold.
2. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt and rub in the butter. Add the egg and enough milk to make a soft dough, then knead for 5 min until smooth. Cover and rest for 30 min.
3. Roll the dough out 5 mm thick and cut into 3 x 8 cm strips. Cut each strip into three ribbons, leaving them joined at the top, then plait and pinch the ends together.
4. Divide the cold syrup between two bowls set over ice (keep one in the freezer while you use the other). Heat the oil to 180°C (350°F).
5. Fry 3–4 koeksisters at a time for 3–4 min, turning, until deep golden.
6. Lift them straight from the oil into the ice-cold syrup and leave for 1 minute, then lift onto a rack set over a tray to drip. Swap syrup bowls as the first one warms up.
7. Cool completely and store in the fridge in an airtight box.

Tips

• The contrast between hot dough and icy syrup is what makes them crunchy, so keep the syrup really cold.
• Take great care moving between hot oil and syrup; work with a slotted spoon.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Food & Home Woolworths TASTE