Vetkoek
Also known as Amagwinya, magwinya, fat cakes
In the mornings, vendors at street corners and taxi ranks sell freshly fried vetkoek, or amagwinya, to children on their way to school and adults going to work.
- TraditionSouth African street food
- Kind of dishBreads and snacks
- SeasonAll year
- OccasionAny day of the week
Flour, sugar, salt and water make a simple yeast dough, which is shaped into balls and fried in plenty of hot oil until golden and puffed, with a soft, bread-like centre. Savoury vetkoek is split and filled with curried beef mince, polony, cheese or atchar. Sweet versions come with apricot jam or butter, and vetkoek is also served beside a bowl of soup.
The name means fat cake in Afrikaans, and in isiXhosa and isiZulu it is igwinya, plural amagwinya. In towns and cities, vendors, often women, sell freshly fried amagwinya at street corners and taxi ranks in the morning, to children on their way to school and adults going to work. The English name fat cake appears in South African writing as early as 1883, in Olive Schreiner's The Story of an African Farm.
Check out these sources
- How to make amagwinya / vetkoek · Woolworths TASTE
- fat cake · Dictionary of South African English
- Amagwinya, vetkoek, or puff-puff? (by Thidziambi Abigail Sebola, University of Pretoria, republished from up.ac.za) · Novus Press Bulletin
- Vetkoek · Wikipedia
