Curry Mince Vetkoek on the Braai | A South African Classic

Today we're making vetkoek the old way — golden, crispy fat cakes fried in a cast iron potjie over the coals, stuffed with a rich curry mince built on toasted whole spices. Star anise. Cardamom. Cinnamon. Toasted in the oil before anything else touches the pot. That's the secret. And the mince — it gets Mrs Ball's Fruit Chutney cooked right into it. Not just on top. Into the sauce. With peas folded in at the end for that pop of freshness. This is the vetkoek your Ouma made. Let's get stuck in. 🇿🇦 🇿🇦 INGREDIENTS The Vetkoek (Fat Cakes): • 1kg cake flour • 1 sachet instant yeast (10g) • 2 Tbsp sugar • 4 tsp salt • ± 2 cups lukewarm water • Vegetable oil for frying (± 5cm deep in a cast iron potjie) Method: In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, yeast, sugar and salt. Give everything a good mix, then gradually add the lukewarm water until you have a soft, slightly sticky dough. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, cover with cling wrap or a damp cloth, and leave it in a warm place for about 30 minutes, or until doubled in size. Divide it into 12–16 equal portions. Roll each piece into a smooth ball and place them on a lightly oiled surface. Cover loosely and let them rest for another 20 minutes. Heat about 5cm of oil in a deep pot to around 180°C. Carefully lower the dough balls into the hot oil, making sure not to overcrowd the pot. Fry for about 4–5 minutes, turning once, until they're beautifully golden brown and cooked through. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towel. To Serve Slice each warm vetkoek halfway open and generously fill it with the hot curried mince. If you've got a sweet tooth, another traditional favourite is to skip the curry and fill your vetkoek with apricot jam and mature cheddar cheese. Simple, old-school, and absolutely delicious. The Curry Mince: • 500g beef or lamb mince • 1 large onion, finely chopped • 1 Tbsp garlic paste • 1 Tbsp fresh ginger paste • 3 Tbsp medium curry powder • 1 star anise • 3 cardamom pods • 1 cinnamon stick • 2 medium potatoes, peeled & cubed • 1 carrot, chopped into small cubes • ½ cup frozen peas • 3 Tbsp Mrs Ball's Fruit Chutney • 1 cup water • Salt & black pepper To Serve: • Mrs Ball's Chutney (always) Method: Heat a little oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the star anise, cardamom pods and cinnamon stick and let them toast for about a minute until fragrant. Add the chopped onion and fry until soft and translucent. Stir in the curry powder and turmeric and cook for another minute or two to wake up the spices. Add the garlic and ginger pastes and fry for another minute. Add the mince and break it up with a wooden spoon. Cook until nicely browned. Add the potatoes, carrots and the cup of water. Give everything a good stir, cover with a lid and let it simmer for 15–20 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender. Stir in the frozen peas and Mrs Ball's Fruit Chutney. Simmer uncovered for another 5 minutes until the sauce thickens into a rich, hearty filling. Season with salt and black pepper to taste, then remove from the heat. ⏱️ CHAPTERS 00:00 — The Most Legendary SA Street Food 00:30 — The Vetkoek Dough — Kneading & the Two-Stage Proof 07:00 — Building the Curry Mince with spices 13:19 — Rollin gout the Vetkoek balls 17:37 — Frying Vetkoek in the Cast Iron Potjie 20:11 — Where Vetkoek Comes From 21:46 — Taste Test — "This Is South Africa on a Plate" 📌 What's YOUR vetkoek filling? Curry mince? Apricot jam and cheese? Syrup? Drop it in the comments If you like this type of thing, please subscribe and follow the channel. Cheers to the next one. 🔔 Subscribe:    / @traveltrailstastes   #Vetkoek #CurryMince #southafricanfood #braai #Amagwinya #firecooking #streetfood #heritagecooking #southafricancuisine ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🔥 More Fire-Cooked South African Classics: 👉 The BEST Snoek Braai:    • The BEST Snoek Braai Recipe | I Also Tried...   👉 Cape Malay Bobotie Over Fire:    • Cape Malay Bobotie | How I Made South Afri...   ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━