Throughout my time in Southern Africa there has been one food that I have been fed everywhere I go—fat cakes!  These little balls of fried dough were served at my homestay in Johannesburg for breakfast with dried fish, minced meat and cheese.  I’ve had them multiple times at our house in Windhoek as they are Sara’s (the house’s head cook) favorite food and you can find them at any market or street vendor around Namibia.  Now, after learning how to make them with my host mother in Khorixas, I am so excited to share the recipe with you—here’s how to make them at home:

Ingredients:

6 cups cake flour, 1tbs salt, 10 gram instant yeast, 1 cup sugar, 1tbs vinegar, 3 1/2 cups water, Oil for frying

Makes 20-25 fat cakes

Directions:

First, mix flour, yeast, salt, and sugar together.  Then, mix vinegar into water and pour over the dry ingredients.  Using a wooden spoon, mix these into a soft dough and be sure to mix well so that there are no lumps (Add water as needed).

Cover dough and leave in a warm place until  it doubles in size.

Finally, fry them up! Heat the oil in a heavy base sauce pan.  Dip a large spoon into the oil then use it to take spoonfuls of the risen dough from the bowl (or you can form them by hand like I did at my home stay).  The balls are normally about the size of a plum, but could be smaller or larger depending on your preference.  Drop these spoonfuls of dough into the hot oil and fry until the fat cakes are a nice brown color on one side and then flip them over.

You can roll these in cinnamon and sugar—one of the group favorites—or eat them with peanut butter like the kids on the farm I visited liked.  They are good for breakfast, lunch, or dinner and definitely dessert!

Sara and my resident advisory, Janessa, recorded some videos cooking these and you can check them out at the CGE website: http://cgesouthernafrica.blogspot.com/