Vetkoek (fat cakes)

[alisonb]

This is a traditional SA recipe that is really good, I thought some of you may like experimenting.
Basically it is a yeast dough (not baking powder) that is cut into portions and then deep fried. It is delicious with sweet or savory fillings - honey, fig/apricot jam or curried mince meat (ground beef). I must say I just buy the ready dough from the supermarket and then fry it.

Ingredients
6¾ cups Flour (all-purpose flour)
2 teaspoons Salt
2 tablespoons Sugar
1 packet Yeast
Lukewarm water
Cooking oil (for frying)

How To Make The Dough
• Mix sugar and yeast with some lukewarm water and leave to foam.
• Sift flour and salt.
• Pour yeast in flour and knead.
• Keep adding water and knead until you have a consistency like a bread dough.
• Leave the dough in the bowl and cover the bowl with a cloth. Leave the dough to rise for about 45 - 60 minutes until it is about double its original size.

How To Make The Vetkoek
• Pour the cooking oil into a frying pan to have about 1-1½ inches of oil in the pan. Heat the oil to about 375°F.
• Divide the dough into balls about the size of a tennis ball.
• Flatten the dough until it is about 1 inch thick and about the size of your palm.
• Place two or three pieces of the flattened dough at a time into the oil. Fry each side until golden brown.

WARNING- If you are watching your weight you should not try this recipe

 

[dun]

The bread part sounds just like Indian Bread to me. Maybe they called it that because they were Shoshone Indians that ate it.

 

[1982vett]

doughnuts..... without the hole..

 

[CKC1586]

The bread part sounds just like Indian Bread to me. Maybe they called it that because they were Shoshone Indians that ate it.

That is exactly what I was thinking as I read this dun. And Mom would dust with sugar and cinnamon after coming out of the fryer...yum!

 

[dun]

The bread part sounds just like Indian Bread to me. Maybe they called it that because they were Shoshone Indians that ate it.

That is exactly what I was thinking as I read this dun. And Mom would dust with sugar and cinnamon after coming out of the fryer...yum!

They also called it "fry bread" or "grease bread" depending on the particular family

 

[Jogeephus]

I can't bake bread worth a flip but this sounds doable. Thanks.

 

[alisonb]

The bread part sounds just like Indian Bread to me.

I looked up the recipe for Indian Bread and it is almost the same thing, except it seems they put the 'filling' on top instead of inside ;-) .

doughnuts..... without the hole..

Similar, not as imaginative and not as sweet - just a bread dough that is fried instead of baked .
It seems it came over here with the Dutch and was easier to fry than bake by the Voortrekkers for obvious reasons. It has stuck around through the years and is made and enjoyed by all cultures.

 

[dun]

The bread part sounds just like Indian Bread to me.

I looked up the recipe for Indian Bread and it is almost the same thing, except it seems they put the 'filling' on top instead of inside ;-) .

doughnuts..... without the hole..

Similar, not as imaginative and not as sweet - just a bread dough that is fried instead of baked .
It seems it came over here with the Dutch and was easier to fry than bake by the Voortrekkers for obvious reasons. It has stuck around through the years and is made and enjoyed by all cultures.

The Indian Bread I ate was slathered with Acib (cooked acorn floor, kind of like real fine cream of wheat), that was the standard. Sometimes slathered with mashed up refried beans, sometime both. Topped with fried venison and it was an all day meal for working away from the place.

 

[dun]

My Hoochia (indian way Grandmother)

 

[alisonb]

The Indian Bread I ate was slathered with Acib (cooked acorn floor, kind of like real fine cream of wheat), that was the standard. Sometimes slathered with mashed up refried beans, sometime both. Topped with fried venison and it was an all day meal for working away from the place.

Interesting....

My Hoochia (indian way Grandmother)
I bet her hands were seldom idle. She has a mischiefness about her and on the other hand a very 'knowing' look. Is that a grass woven cradle?

 

[dun]

The Indian Bread I ate was slathered with Acib (cooked acorn floor, kind of like real fine cream of wheat), that was the standard. Sometimes slathered with mashed up refried beans, sometime both. Topped with fried venison and it was an all day meal for working away from the place.

Interesting....

My Hoochia (indian way Grandmother)
I bet her hands were seldom idle. She has a mischiefness about her and on the other hand a very 'knowing' look. Is that a grass woven cradle?

It's called a hoopa, it's a baby packboard woven from sticks and grass as the binding. That's myy daughter in it, taken in 1964, she was in her eightys. Annie was a wonderful old woman that didn;t take crap from anyone and always had a kind word and a hand when needed.

 

[TexasBred]

This is a traditional SA recipe that is really good, I thought some of you may like experimenting.
Basically it is a yeast dough (not baking powder) that is cut into portions and then deep fried. It is delicious with sweet or savory fillings - honey, fig/apricot jam or curried mince meat (ground beef). I must say I just buy the ready dough from the supermarket and then fry it.

Ingredients
6¾ cups Flour (all-purpose flour)
2 teaspoons Salt
2 tablespoons Sugar
1 packet Yeast
Lukewarm water
Cooking oil (for frying)

How To Make The Dough
• Mix sugar and yeast with some lukewarm water and leave to foam.
• Sift flour and salt.
• Pour yeast in flour and knead.
• Keep adding water and knead until you have a consistency like a bread dough.
• Leave the dough in the bowl and cover the bowl with a cloth. Leave the dough to rise for about 45 - 60 minutes until it is about double its original size.

How To Make The Vetkoek
• Pour the cooking oil into a frying pan to have about 1-1½ inches of oil in the pan. Heat the oil to about 375°F.
• Divide the dough into balls about the size of a tennis ball.
• Flatten the dough until it is about 1 inch thick and about the size of your palm.
• Place two or three pieces of the flattened dough at a time into the oil. Fry each side until golden brown.

WARNING- If you are watching your weight you should not try this recipe

Sounds sort of like the kolaches the Czech/German folks make. Never made in but stop and buy them every time I see a sign.

 

[alisonb]

Never made in but stop and buy them every time I see a sign.

I hope you don't see a sign tooo often ;-) .

 

[TexasBred]

Never made in but stop and buy them every time I see a sign.

I hope you don't see a sign tooo often ;-) .

Once is too often for this "fat boy". But mercy they are good. Every flavor imaginable and all are good except "Prune".

 

[Kathie in Thorp]

This is an old post that I've just seen. Dun, love the pictures of your Hoochia! Bless her heart. Priceless!!!