Vetkoek

* Some leftover vegetable curry works if you can't get jars of this by you. Otherwise make yourself up a mini batch of veggie biryani to use. And if you need to, email me and I will see if I can find an easy recipe that is similar to the canned curry you find in grocery stores in South Africa.

1. Stir sugar in the lukewarm water and add the yeast.

2. Sieve the flour and salt into a mixing bowl.

3. Add oil to the yeast liquid.

4. Mix dry ingredients with yeast liquid using a wooden spoon.

5. Work to a firm dough, adding extra flour if needed, until sides of bowl are clean.

6. Turn dough on to a lightly floured table and knead thouroughly until it is firm, elastic and no longer sticky (about 10 minutes).

7. Shape dough into a ball and place into mixing bowl and cover with cloth.

8. Allow dough to double in size and dough springs back when pressed with a floured finger (60 minutes in a warm place, 2 hours at room temperature).

9. Turn risen dough onto a lightly floured surface, flatten to knock out air bubbles and knead to make firm. Flatten to about 1 cm thick (little less than inch) and cut pieces into 8 cm x 8 cm (3" x 3").

10. Cook in warm deed oil until brown.

11. Slice open and smear with butter, jam or mince filling (many people actually would use all three).

Mince filling:

Fry onions in oil until light brown. Add ground beef and cook for about 15 minutes. Add potatoes and enough water to cook gently for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add vegetable curry and cook for another 5 to 10 minutes. The mince should not be watery.