Pampoenkoekies

Name: Pampoenkoekies
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: South Africa
Ingredients: 700 g butternut pumpkin, cubed; 150 g plain wheat flour; 2 eggs; 2 tsp baking powder; ½ tsp salt; 2 tbsp sugar; Neutral oil for frying; 80 g sugar, to finish; 2 tsp ground cinnamon

Small pumpkin fritters fried in a pan and rolled in cinnamon sugar, the way Cape farm kitchens have made them for generations.

#pumpkin#fritters#cinnamon#afrikaans#teatime

Photo : Andy Li · CC0

Prep: 15 min
Cook: 30 min
Total: 45 min
Serves: 6
Difficulty: Easy

Method

Steam the pumpkin for 20 minutes, until a knife goes through without resistance.
Mash it with a fork and let it cool in a sieve so it drips off its water.
Stir the mash together with the eggs, sugar and salt.
Add the flour and baking powder, then mix to a thick batter that holds on the spoon.
Heat 5 mm of oil in a frying pan. Drop in spoonfuls of batter and flatten each one a little.
Fry for 3 minutes a side over medium heat, until golden brown. Drain on kitchen paper.
Mix the sugar with the cinnamon and roll the koekies in it while they are hot.

Water in the pumpkin is what ruins the batter: drain it badly and you end up adding flour, which makes a heavy fritter. Steaming already spares you most of that compared with boiling. Afrikaner farmers ate these at breakfast, before the coffee.

Nutrition · per serving

Calories: 240 kcal
Protein: 6.1 g
Fat: 2.1 g
Carbohydrate: 51.3 g
Fibre: 3.4 g

An estimate computed from the recipe quantities and the USDA food composition database. Real values vary with the products used.

Frequently asked questions

My batter is too runny, should I add flour?

Add draining time instead: the culprit is water from the squash. Let the mash cool in a sieve and press it gently. Adding flour fixes the consistency but gives a heavy, doughy fritter.

Can I use a squash other than butternut?

Yes, as long as it is dense rather than watery; a very fibrous or wet squash will need longer draining. Either way, steam it rather than boiling it, which only makes it wetter.

Can these be made without eggs?

The eggs hold together a batter that is already moist, so removing them is tricky. If you try, drain the squash even more thoroughly and expect fritters that are fragile to turn; shape them smaller to limit breakage.

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