Fat Cakes and Fat Cooks

All throughout Namibia, you can find woman selling fat cakes. Along
the street, in the open markets, after church and during break-time at
school. These fried balls of dough are Namibia's equivalent to a
doughnut and make a cheap snack for a poor PC volunteer. When we first
landed in Windhoek, current volunteers greeted us as we stepped off
the plane and passed out fat cakes from a big tub as our first taste
of Namibian cuisine. I just received a cooking lesson on how to make
them this past weekend, so I thought I'd share the recipe.

Fat Cakes

5 cups of self-rising flour (if you don't have, just use cake flour
and add an additional two teaspoons of baking powder)
1 Tablespoon of salt
3 big spoonfuls of sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
3 cups lukewarm water

• Combine dry ingredients in a big bowl. After thoroughly
incorporated, slowly stir in water, stirring to form an elastic
consistency.
• Cover bowl with a plastic bag and set out in the sun for 45 min to
an hour. This gives the dough time to bubble and rise.
• Heat a couple inches of oil in a cast-iron pan. To test if it's hot
enough, drop a few drops of water and they should "dance" on top of
oil when hot enough.
• Dip a big spoon in water before scooping spoonfuls of dough and
plopping them in the pan. Dipping the spoon in water in between scoops
will keep dough from sticking to the spoon.
• Fat cakes will puff up while cooking; turn with a fork when one side
is golden brown.
• Tap off excess oil into pan before placing done fat cakes in a bowl.
Store fat cakes in a plastic bag to keep tender.
• Serve with sugar, jam, honey, chicken or mince meat. Best eaten warm!
Makes enough to share with your neighbors and friends and trust me
it's better to share than to eat too many!