Koe'sister

This article is about Cape Malay version of the dish. For the version associated with Afrikaners, see koeksister.

A koesister or koe'sister^[1] is a traditional Cape Malay pastry often described as a spicy dumpling with a cake-like texture, finished off with a sprinkling of coconut.^[2]

Koesister

Alternative names	Koe'sister
Type	Pastry
Course	Dessert
Place of origin	South Africa
Main ingredients	Dough, sugar syrup, desiccated coconut, spices

The inaugural World Koesister Day was celebrated on Sunday, 1 September 2019 at an event hosted at the Radisson RED Hotel V&A Waterfront, Cape Town, South Africa, in partnership with Vannie Kaap. World Koesister Day is celebrated on the first Sunday in September.

Cape Malay koe'sisters are prepared from balls of dough including yeast and flavoured with cinnamon, aniseed, ginger, cardamom and dried tangerine skin powder, deep-frying in oil, allowing to cool, then cooking for a minute in boiling syrup and rolling in desiccated coconut.^[3]

Traditional Cape Malay Koesisters

The frying of dough strips in this manner is of Malay/Indonesian origin, possibly with Indian influence, originally eaten as an unsweetened breakfast savoury brought to South Africa with Malay slaves,^[4] among whom they were known as koe'sisters, apparently suggesting polite gossiping among spinsters.

Cape Malay koe'sisters are different from the Afrikaner version called koeksister, which is a crisp and syrupy twisted or plaited doughnut.^[5]