During lockdown, I started browsing the internet for rare and secondhand books. I hoped that this activity would help me overcome the longing brought about by not being able to browse through secondhand bookshops, a favourite pastime. I love books and enjoy the excitement of coming across a bargain rare book. Nothing beats a bookshop with shelves laden with books from floor to ceiling.
To be in the presence of so many books, to
see and smell them, is the best therapy. I can lose myself in their pages. Knowing
that I will find something there that will fascinate me. I have never been able
to walk into a bookshop and not walk out without a handful of books.
Browsing the internet for books is extremely dangerous where I am concerned. I was able to fill several ‘Wish Lists’ in no time. Emails reminding me that I have books waiting in ‘Wish Lists’ are frequent. No, I do not need help completing the purchase, I need help not to make the purchase.
On one of my online shopping excursions, I came across two books by Betsie Rood that I wanted to add to my Towerwater collection of traditional South African cookbooks. “101 Traditional South African Recipes” and “Malay Cooking”, is in my opinion an essential part of any South African traditional cookbook collection.
In “101 Traditional South African Recipes” published in 1977, she has selected 101 traditional South African treasured family recipes from scrap books that date back to the 1890s. These traditional recipes she inherited from her mother and mother-in-law, and both her grandmothers.
“Malay Cooking”, published in 1978, was first published a year earlier, in 1977, in Afrikaans as “Maleierkookkuns”. To my knowledge, this cookbook was the first to be published in Afrikaans about Malay cooking. The book is more of a recording of popular recipes used by Malay cooks. Each contributor’s name appears alongside her recipe. Interestingly, where cooks had differing approaches to a specific recipe, the different recipes for the same dish are included.
Reading through the two cookbooks, I came across a recipe each for koeksisters and koesisters. I was interested to find the recipe for the plaited koeksisters in “101 Traditional South African Recipes” and the round koesister rolled in desiccated coconut, in “Malay Cooking”. The contribution of Malay cooks to traditional South African cooking is indisputable.
This got me thinking about the name koeksister/koesister and how it came about that the same name was used for two quite different confectionaries, but also interchangeably.
The origin of the koeksister is not exactly clear, but it is popularly thought to have originated from a recipe brought to the Cape by Dutch settlers in the 17th century.
After reading several online speculations
about the origin of both koeksisters and koesister, it was clear that none of these
really knew the origin. I decided to consult my collection of South African
cookbooks after searching online unsuccessfully for possible Dutch recipes for
any confectionary resembling the two. In the Dutch cookbook “De Verstandige
Kock,” published in 1667, I could not find any recipe resembling either of the
two Cape recipes. I deduced that the recipes could both have roots in Middle
Eastern or Asian recipes. Further, that the recipes in their current form were
not traditionally Dutch which would explain why they were not included in this
cookbook. Or, at best, that something familiar in the Dutch tradition had
evolved into a new guise.
The South African cookbooks I consulted were “Cape cookery” by A G Hewitt published in 1889, “Hilda's where is it of recipes” by Hildagonda Duckitt published in 1891, “Di Suid-Afrikaanse kook-, koek- en resepte boek” by E J Dijkman published 1890, “Die praktiese kookboek vir Suid-Afrika” by S van H Tulleken published 1937, “Traditional cookery of the Cape Malays” by Hilda Gerber published in 1954, “The South African Cullinary Tradition” by Renata Coetzee published in 1977, “101 Traditional South African Recipes” by Betsie Rood published in 1977 and “Malay Cooking” by Betsie Rood published in 1978.
A G Hewitt recorded a recipe for Kosiesters. The recipe is clearly for the ‘Malay version’ of koeksisters but does not mention any coconut. Hildagonda Duckitt recorded a recipe for Koesisters which is annotated as “Batavian or old Dutch Recipe”. However, the recipe looks like that of the plaited koeksister. The recipe calls for the dough to be rolled out and cut into strips but there is no specific mention of plaiting. Did Hilda merely assume her audience would know this? E J Dijkman recorded a recipe for Koesisters that also resemble the plaited one. However, it calls for the rolled dough to be cut in squares before frying. These recipes remind one of the Italian Chiacchiere and Cenci.
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| Chiacchiere, Image source:Wikipedia |
Hilda Gerber (1954) recorded a recipe for
Koesisters that is clearly the ‘Malay version’, but here I found the addition
of rolling it in grated coconut. Renata Coetzee recorded a recipe for Koeksisters
that is clearly for the plaited variety and here I notice the addition of buttermilk
or sour milk to the dough mixture.
In her book “Malay Cooking”, Betsie Rood records two recipes for Koesisters and one for Potato Koesisters but she adds a recipe for Bollas. The Bollas are made like Koesisters but the dough balls do not get rolled in sugar or coconut. Potato Koesister apparently is only made by more skilled cooks, but it makes for a fluffier koesister. In her book “101 Traditional South African Recipes” Betsie Rood recorded a recipe for the plaited Koeksisters.
From all the above, it is evident that historically, the name koeksister and koesister were used interchangeably for any version of the sweet confectionary. It depended on the person recording the recipe. To add further evidence to this observation, there is a historical advert outside a shop in the Bo-Kaap (the historic Malay Quarter of Cape Town which has origins going back to the earliest years of the settlement at the Cape), advertising koeksisters with an image of the ‘Malay koesisters’ rolled in desiccated coconut.
I decided to look at historical recipes
from Asia and the Middle East that might have influenced and informed the
confectionaries that has become so uniquely South African.
When I investigated the plaited koeksister, I found a 13th century Arabian recipe recorded in Andalucía, Spain, for Dafâir or Braids. Dafâir or Braids is deep fried and then covered in a syrup.
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| Dafâir/Braids, Fried Dough Twist and Jalebi |
“The Making of Dafâir, Braids
Take what you will of white flour or of
semolina, which is better in these things. Moisten it with hot water after
sifting, and knead well, after adding some fine flour, leavening, and salt.
Moisten it again and again until it has middling consistency. Then break into
it, for each ratl (ratl shami = a medieval Middle Eastern unit of
measurement for both liquid and mass which could be approximately 2,88kg in
this context) of semolina, five eggs and a dirham (an ancient Middle
Eastern unit of measurement roughly equivalent to 3,1g) of saffron, and
beat all this very well, and put the dough in a dish, cover it and leave it to
rise, and the way to tell when this is done is what was mentioned before [it
holds an indentation]. When it has risen, clean a frying pan and fill it with
fresh oil, then put it on the fire. When it starts to boil, make braids of the
leavened dough like hair-braids, of a handspan or less in size. Coat them with
oil and throw them in the oil and fry them until they brown. When their cooking
is done, arrange them on an earthenware plate and pour over them skimmed honey
spiced with pepper, cinnamon, Chinese cinnamon, and lavender. Sprinkle it with
ground sugar and present it, God willing. This same way you make isfunj, except
that the dough for the isfunj will be rather light. Leave out the saffron, make
it into balls and fry them in that shape, God willing. And if you wish stuffed
dafâir or isfunj, stuff them with a filling of almonds and sugar, as indicated
for making qâhiriyât.” Source: An
Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook of the 13th Century
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| Oliebolle, Mahua and Lokma |
Koeksisters, koesisters and bollas have become part of the South African culinary identity. Naturally, Koeksisters and Koesisters often put in a welcome appearance for tea at Towerwater. Whichever one you prefer, one will not find anything more South African no matter the roots of origin.
More posts about Koeksisters on this blog.
The History of Koeksisters explained
Koeksisters en Koffie (Afrikaans)
As usual Thys your post has made fascinating reading. Thanks for doing this research. I have often wondered about the origin of these similar sounding delicacies, which are actually so different.
ReplyDeleteI am glad you enjoyed the post Yvonne. It was very interesting doing this research.
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