Quest for the perfect amagwinya: Dorah Sitole shows us how

It was a great and unexpected shock when, in 2021, I learnt that the veteran food writer Dorah Sitole had been a victim of Covid. I had spoken to her only weeks earlier. Her superb book, Dorah Sitole’s 40 Years of Iconic Food, had been published barely two months earlier, and it was to be her final work, and a testament to her legacy.

I wrote in January 2021: “What a swansong Dorah Sitole’s final work was: a triumph of a book in that least triumphant of years, 2020. On first opening her book, Dorah Sitole 40 Years of Iconic Food, in November last year I was captivated, and it’s not easy to be enthralled when so many cookery books are on the market, all vying for shelf space and your attention.” Here’s that full story, which also links to my earlier review of her book.

This week, out of the blue, something happened that had me rushing back to Dorah’s book, to find her recipe for amagwinya. Because I have never made it, and nor has my Business Maverick colleague Ray Mahlaka.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Full Circle – from SJA de Villiers to Dorah Sitole

When I stumbled by chance on an Instagram post by Ray, and his embarrassment about not quite getting the recipe for amagwinya right ? (read his delightful mea culpaLINK about that here), I thought, I’ve got to help the guy out. But first I needed to learn how to cook amagwinya myself ?, never having made either them or vetkoek, their near-identical cousin.

In Dorah’s book, it is displayed proudly on pages 38 and 39. You’ll find her recipe for it below, with my thanks to Human & Rousseau for allowing us to publish it.

A side note: Even though we have been colleagues for years, Ray and I have never been in the same room, this being a hangover of the Covid years when we all learnt to meet online. And stayed online. So we all know what everyone else at Daily Maverick looks like, except for those who turn their cameras off, making themselves even more distant. If in the same room, we’d have to put towels over our heads.

Mind you, with our cameras turned off we could step straight out of the shower into a virtual meeting without our colleagues being any the wiser. Or have ratty hair, five o’clock shadow, runny mascara or an avocado face mask. 

Like that CNN presenter with a smart shirt and tie above his desk and boxer shorts on below. ?

Here’s Dorah’s recipe from that book, and I want to thank Ray for reminding me to go back to this fine work. And with it came fresh tears that she did not get to live out her “encore years”.

Dorah Sitole’s Amagwinya

(Vetkoek)

(Makes 12)

Ingredients

480 g (4 cups) cake wheat flour 

5 ml (1 tsp) salt 

30 ml (2 Tbsp) sugar 

1 x 10 g packet instant dry yeast 

1 egg, beaten 

250 ml (1 cup) lukewarm water 

Sunflower oil for deep-frying 

Method

Sift together the flour, salt and sugar into a bowl and stir in the instant yeast. 

Add the egg and water, and mix into a soft dough.

Knead for at least 10 minutes, cover with a cloth and leave in a warm place until doubled in size.

Heat the oil in a deep saucepan. Divide the dough into balls, and fry in the hot oil until brown and cooked through.

Drain on absorbent paper towel and keep warm.

Serve the amagwinya filled with mince curry, mango atchar, white liver sausage or dry snoek. DM