Eggless South African Donuts – Eggless Donuts with Cardamom & Coconut
Donuts are my kyrptonite and these Eggless South African Donuts have my heart. These are slightly different from the American donuts. They are sweet, spongy and pillowy, spiced and traditionally dipped in sugar syrup. SO GOOD!
Food feeds the soul. To the extent that we all eat food, and we all have souls, food is the single great unifier across cultures. On a larger scale, food is an important part of culture. Traditional cuisine is passed down from one generation to the next. It also operates as an expression of cultural identity. Immigrants bring the food of their countries with them wherever they go and cooking traditional food is a way of preserving their culture when they move to new places.
Being in America has opened up a pandoras box of global cuisine. What stays the same though is the extent to which each country or community’s unique cuisine can reflect its unique history, lifestyle, values, and beliefs. As the world becomes more globalized, it is easier to access cuisines from different cultures.
We should embrace our heritage through our culture’s food but we should also become more informed about other cultures by trying their foods. It’s important to remember that each dish has a special place in the culture to which it belongs, and is special to those who prepare it. Food is a portal into culture, and it should be treated as such.
This is an inspired recipe, South African Donuts. The shape of these Eggless Donuts are like Koeksisters, that is soaked in sugar syrup and is made with eggs. I have researched many recipes and I’ve come up with a recipe that’s a blend of many, and I have fallen in love with. These eggless donuts are sweetened with condensed milk that adds richness and sweetness to the batter and rolled in granulated sugar. YOU WILL LOVE IT!
HOW TO MAKE South AFRICAN DONUTS/Koeksisters
The eggless donut dough is a basic bread dough with yeast and flour. The addition of cardamom and coconut milk makes it so special. Work the dough and let it rest.
After the first rise of these eggless donuts dough, divide the dough into small portions(I learnt it the hard way not to make too large portions), make a braid or just twist it. Let it rise again and deep fry them and you’ll have super delicious South African Donuts/koeksisters.
Tips to getting perfect SOUTH AFRICAN DONUTS
In order to braid these, Make sure to take small balls, flatten, cut two lines and braid. Make sure to braid it tightly and let it rest not more than 30 minutes. Be careful when you lift the eggless donuts/koeksisters off of the tray and try not to deflate them.
If you are looking for some fried goodness.. check the following.
If you make this delicious African Donuts/Eggless donuts recipe make sure to tag me on social media at #foodfashionparty.
- ⅓ cup warm water
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 2 ½ teaspoons active dry yeast (1 oz sachet)
- 4 cups all purpose flour (500g or ½ kg)
- 1 cup light coconut milk or if you prefer just milk
- 3 tablespoons butter – melted
- ¼ cup condensed milk
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Oil for frying – canola oil or vegetable oil will work well here.
- ⅓ tsp salt
- 1 tsp yeast
- 1 tbsp cold butter
- 100 ml or ½ cup milk
- 1 inch sliced fresh ginger
- 5 cardamom pods
- In a kitchenaid mixer, add warm water, it should be about 110 degrees.
- Add the yeast to the water along with sugar and let it rest for 2 minutes. Add the salt, condensed milk, coconut milk and mix very well. Finally, add in the flour and mix . Add the butter and let it work for about 3-5 minutes. You can mix with a wooden ladle too. Let it come to a form a dough. Cover the dough with towel and let it rise in a warm place for about 1 hour until doubled in size.
- Punch down dough to deflate then place on a floured board and cut into 24 equal pieces. (I start off by cutting the dough into four. Then cutting each piece into two twice to form 8 pieces. Then I cut every 1 of the eight pieces into 3. That makes 24 pieces.)
- Take one piece and roll out into a 13-inch braid. Press the ends together to seal them. Place the braided doughnut on a large tray on a wax paper. Repeat process with the rest of the dough.
- Let the twisted doughnuts rise for about twenty minutes.
- Let the oil heat up to about 350 degrees F or for about 8-10 minutes then turn the heat down to medium-low. Place in the twisted doughnuts to fry being careful not to overcrowd the pan.
- Once the doughnuts turn golden brown on one side, flip to the other side and let them cook. Once the other side is golden brown, remove and place on paper towel to absorb excess oil. They take about 4 minutes total to cook.
- In a baking tray, take sugar. Coat the hot doughnuts immediately and put it on a rack.
