DIAGONAL SWEET
Theresa de Vries from the remote Northern Cape is bringing the region’s food to a wider audience, writes Drieka Burger
Heritage food was dressed in a new modern jacket in kykNET’s cooking reality show
Kokkedoor earlier this year. Teams consisting of one traditional cook and one modern cook measured up in challenges where traditional foods like breads, boerewors, preserves, padkos and offal had to be prepared and presented in a fresh and modern way. Heritage food meets the 21st century.
Traditional cook Theresa de Vries and her modern cook teammate Ida Klopper narrowly missed out on winning at the end of the competition, but won a lot of hearts and palates with their fresh take on traditional South African food.
A Smeg stove is just one of the prizes they won. De Vries asked for a gas oven because on the Northern Cape farm near Brandvlei where she has been living with her farmer husband Bossie for the last 30 years, Eskom electricity is just a faraway rumour. In the kitchen De Vries uses an old anthracite Aga stove and a Defy Leisuregas stove.
The Smeg was won in a challenge where De Vries and Klopper made tripe. “The secret of tripe is that is should be cleaned,” she said.
De Vries started cooking when she did home economics at the Hoërskool Vredendal from Grade 10 to Grade 12.
“We had this teacher, Etta Lombard. She was strict, but she drilled everything into us, about neat and organised work in the kitchen and cleaning while you work,” she said.
As a young teacher in Brandvlei, De Vries started dating Bossie and cooked for him when he visited her in town. “That is when I started to enjoy it. After we got married I learned the traditional skills. My mother taught me to make puff pastry. My mother- in-law taught me how to make sourdough and bake bread. The workers’ wives on the farm taught me how to clean tripe.”
And she loves to experiment, De Vries said. “At the moment I am trying to perfect my own phyllo pastry.” Her favourite thing to make is “anything sweet” and this has grown into a profitable business over the last 10 years. She makes sweets like nougat, quince treats, honeycomb and peanut brittle to sell at farm stalls and Christmas markets.
“Kokkedoor was a good experience because I represented Brandvlei and the Boesmanland region, every ordinary housewife, my mother and my mother-in-law, and everyone who taught me about food,” she said.
De Vries is now teaming up with another farmer’s wife, writer Hannelie van Niekerk, to compile a cookbook with traditional regional recipes accompanied by stories about the region and its food. Boesmanland
Kuierkos will be available by Christmas. De Vries’s traditional trademark in
Kokkedoor was skuinskoek — literally, diagonal cake — a slightly sweet snack best described as a cross between mosbolletjies and doughnuts.
It is eaten hot or cold with coffee and is typical of the central Northern Cape. De Vries makes it with a yeast starter, but dry instant yeast will do.
SKUINSKOEK
2.5kg cake flour 30g (3 sachets) dry instant yeast 800g (4 cups) white sugar 60ml (4 tbsp) ground anise 5ml (1 tsp) ground nutmeg 10ml (2 tsp) ground cinnamon 20ml (4 tsp) salt About 800ml lukewarm water, or as needed 250g soft fat or butter To bake: sunflower oil Mix together the flour, yeast, sugar, anise, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt. Mix in enough water to make a firm dough, but softer than bread dough. Knead while adding the fat/butter in small parts. Knead until the dough does not stick to your hands anymore. Cover with plastic and a blanket and place in a warm spot to rise.
If you start early in the morning, you can bake in the afternoon. Heat oil in a deep, wide pot. Knead down the dough, flatten it to about 1cm thick and cut in strips 3cm wide. Then cut diagonally in 3cm pieces.
Test the oil with a piece of dough. If it quickly comes to the surface, it is ready (180°C). Bake the skuinskoek in the oil until it is golden brown, about the colour of a gingerbread biscuit.
Serve hot or cold with coffee or tea. Can be frozen if packed in plastic or an airtight container.