Fried Dough with Syrup
By Sid • Apr 26th, 2008 • Category: Cooking For Kids, Desserts, Posts, Vegetarian Food |
I used to read a lot of Wilbur Smith in the past. In fact, I think I’ve read all of his books twice or more. If you ask me, I think his books are the ‘Mills and Boon’ equivalent for men. Anyway, there was mention of a dish called ‘Koeksisters’ in a few of his books and I always thought of making them, but never did. Yesterday was baking day and I glanced through recipes on the net for Koeksisters. They are a traditional South African dish, and apparently not made much anymore. Most agreed that the ‘they have to be fried and then soaked or coated with syrup. However, most didn’t agree on the type of the input. Some say it is to be fried batter and others say it must be a dough of baking powder with flour. |
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Since I did have a large batch of risen bread dough, I used that. Shaped the bread dough into sticks and balls and deep fried them till they were a lovely golden brown in color. After draining, they were coated with corn syrup. You could add other stuff like candied peel or a couple of strands of saffron if you like. Caution: Don’t make the balls too large. They tend to literally explode if they’re too large and fried for too long. Also, while they do explode when they’re in the oil, they can also explode when they’re out of the oil. One of my batches exploded one after the other and sprayed me with hot oil. Death wish that I had, I experimented and found its the size and duration of frying that makes them do so. I must say however, the exploded ones had a lovely cracked crust that made them absorb the syrup much better. Serve hot if you can, they’re delicious and if you’re baking, can be made in a jiffy. Cherie (my daughter) loved them by the way. As Amber points out, these aren’t the real ones. After doing a bit more searching, I’ve found what they’re supposed to look like and some reasonably consistent dough recipes. Will do the real thing soon and post. I’ve changed the post title and the URL to reflect this. Thank you Amber! - Sid |
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Sid is a self confessed food addict who likes cooking, writing and photography... and travel, if it gets him closer to a good book and interesting food.
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I think I won’t be trying these, far too dangerous! And corn syrup! Too many calories!
you could shape them as sticks instead and use any low cal syrup.
Methinks not!
Mmmmm fried dough and syrup, can’t go wrong there.
fried things covered in sugar - there’s nothing else i need.
we italians have several versions of fried balls covered in sugar or syrup. these look equally tasty.
traditionally, the dough is braided or twisted together, not rolled into balls. The syrup most often used is a simple syrup of sugar and water, then flavoured with lemon zest, ginger and cinnamon. The most important part of the process is to use ice cold syrup and soak the fried dough pieces immediately. This makes them absorb the syrup without making the outer crust soggy.
This recipe, when done correctly is far more than just fried dough in corn syrup. Hopefully some of you will try real koeksisters and enjoy them as much as my family has for generations
Try fried banannas as well
They are great
Syrup and even ice cream on top enhances the flavor even more