Magwinya

Ingredients

Dough

• 700 gplain flour
• 80 gsugar
• 10 gdried yeast
• 1 teaspoonsalt
• about 400 ml warm water
• 2 tablespoonsoil

To fry

• oil, for deep frying

Sometimes filled with

• cooked mince
• polony or sausage
• grated cheese
• jam or syrup
• chakalaka

To serve

• hot, in paper
• at a bus stop
• at a school gate

Directions

1. Flour, water, yeast, sugar and oil. They are eaten plain and quite hot. Mince, polony or cheese go inside. It is soft but firm enough to shape. Warm the water to blood temperature. Stir the yeast and a spoon of sugar in. Let it stand until it foams up. Give it about ten minutes to foam. Put the flour, sugar and salt in a bowl.
2. Make a well in the middle of it. Pour in the foaming yeast liquid. Add the oil to the well as well. Bring it together into a soft dough. Turn it out onto a floured surface.
3. Knead it for a good ten minutes. It should become smooth and elastic. Take the full ten minutes over it. Rising it takes about an hour. Put the dough in an oiled bowl. Cover it and leave it somewhere warm. Let it roughly double in size. Give it an hour or a little more. Divide it into even sized pieces.
4. Roll each one into a smooth ball. Roll them under a cupped palm. Press down lightly as you circle. That tightens the surface into a smooth skin. Set the balls on a floured tray. Cover them loosely with a cloth. Let them prove for about thirty minutes. Heating the oil takes attention.
5. Pour the oil into a deep heavy pot. Fill it no more than half full. Heat it to about one hundred and seventy degrees. It should rise and sizzle steadily. Keep a lid nearby to smother a flare-up. Never put water on an oil fire at all. Keep children well away from the pot. Too hot and they brown before cooking through.
6. Check between batches and adjust. Frying them takes care and batches. Turn them over with a slotted spoon. Give them another three or four minutes. Break the first one open to check. The inside should be light and open. Lift them out onto a wire rack. A rack keeps them crisp underneath.
7. Let all the excess oil drip away. That softens the base within minutes. Leave one edge attached as a hinge. Spoon the filling into the hollow. Grated cheese melts into the warm bread. Warm them briefly to revive them.

Technique

• Magwinya, amagwinya, vetkoek and fat cake are all names for the same thing across Southern Africa; they cost very little to make from flour, water, yeast, sugar and oil, which is what makes them both affordable to sell and a viable small business at bus stops and school gates.
• A well made fat cake is hollow inside, because the gas from the yeast expands in the hot oil and pushes the dough out to the edges; that hollow is what holds a filling, and a dense one simply has not puffed properly.
• Both the ten minutes of kneading and the second prove matter for that: well kneaded dough traps more gas and the second rise refills it, so skipping either gives dense heavy cakes.

Substitutions

• Any plain bread dough fries the same way.
• They are eaten plain, or split and filled with mince, polony, cheese, chakalaka or jam.

Variations

• Rolling them in sugar while hot makes a simple sweet version.
• Vetkoek is the Afrikaans name and amagwinya the South African one.
• They are sold in twists of paper to eat standing.

History

Deep-fried dough balls, the Southern African fat cake, sold at bus stops and school gates for small change.

Frequently asked questions

What is Magwinya?

Magwinya is a street food from Botswana: golden fat cakes, deep-fried dough sold everywhere. Deep-fried dough balls, the Southern African fat cake, sold at bus stops and school gates for small change.

How long does Magwinya take to make?

Magwinya takes 20 minutes plus rising of preparation and 30 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes about 20 cakes. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Magwinya?

Yes, within limits. Any plain bread dough fries the same way. They are eaten plain, or split and filled with mince, polony, cheese, chakalaka or jam.

What is the most important thing to get right in Magwinya?

Pour the oil into a deep heavy pot. Fill it no more than half full. Heat it to about one hundred and seventy degrees. It should rise and sizzle steadily. Keep a lid nearby to smother a flare-up. Never put water on an oil fire at all. Keep children well away from the pot. Too hot and they brown before cooking through.