Meet the queens of the Cape Malay koeksister
She said the best memories of Bishop's childhood are of Sunday morning conversations shared over a cuppa and a koeksister, and she is happy to be continuing that tradition with her family.
WHO would have known that an event such as World Koeksister Day exists? It takes place on the first Sunday of very September and celebrates the much-loved sweet delight.
Although it’s celebrated mainly in the Cape region in South Africa, a mom-and-daughter duo from Durban North and Greenwood Park, respectively, says they have been dubbed the family’s ‘koeksister queens’ because of their secret family recipe which has been passed down through six generations.
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Gayure August said she has fond memories of baking koeksisters in the kitchen with her mother as a little girl. They bake the Cape Malay koeksister which has a sweet and spicy taste.
The other is the Dutch twisted koeksister which is golden and crunchy, sweet and sticky.
“I was nine-years-old when I learnt how to cook and bake. My mom always involved me in the kitchen, and I was very interested,” she said.
“As we grew older, my sisters and I would all be in the kitchen at family gatherings, baking koeksisters and having a good laugh. That’s what my mom wanted to instill in us and for us to create and strengthen our bond,” added Gayure.
Her daughter, Faaria Bishop, however, was the opposite and only learnt how to cook in her late teens.
Bishop learnt soon after that she also had a passion for cooking, and they both run a home-cooking business together called It’s a Mouthful. They feature at the Greenwood Park Lifestyle Market where their food and koeksisters are very popular.
“Sunday breakfast has always been tea or coffee with koeksisters. It is a long-standing tradition in my family which my granny made sure we keep. She was Cape Malay, and so the tradition continued. It’s our way of honouring her legacy,” said Bishop.
Believe it or not, these home chefs say that many people don’t know the correct texture, taste and consistency of a good Cape Malay koeksister.
“This koeksister should not be drenched in syrup, have a sugar coating or be light brown in colour. The dough should be chewy, not like a doughnut, and it should never be oily,” said August.
She said the blend of spices and the kneading process were also very important when creating the perfect koeksister.
About five years ago, Bishop decided to start learning how to make the famous Cape Malay koeksister.
A few tries later, and she is now a master at making the delicious treat.
“Like my mom always says, you have to cook with love and that’s exactly what we both do. Although there is a recipe that my gran passed down to us, most of the time we don’t use measurements. It’s really made from our hearts,” said Bishop.
Koe’sister vs Koeksister
The Cape Malay version of the treat is actually pronounced koe’sisters. These are prepared from balls of dough, including yeast, and flavoured with cinnamon, aniseed, ginger, cardamom and dried tangerine skin powder, deep-fried in oil, allowed to cool, then cooked for a minute in boiling syrup and rolling in desiccated coconut.This unsweetened breakfast savoury was brought to South Africa with Malay slaves and was known as koe’sisters, apparently suggesting polite gossiping among spinsters.
Cape Malay koe’sisters are different from the Afrikaaner version called the koeksister, which is a crisp and syrupy twisted or plaited doughnut.
