4 cups of plain flour (500 g)
2 teaspoons of active yeast (or 7 g sachet)
2/3 cups of sugar
2 cups warm water
1500 g shortening or vegetable oil deep frying (8 cm
deep)
Combine yeast with 1 cup of warm water and 1 teaspoon of the
sugar in a large bowl and mix until the yeast has dissolved. Leave for 10
minutes or until frothy.
Add remaining water, sugar and flour and stir to mix. It
should form a very wet dough and more like a very thick batter. Add a little
more water (up to 1/4 cup of water) if it's too dry or add a bit more flour if
too runny.
Using your hands, mix the flour in well until a smooth batter
is formed and coming away from the side of the bowl. Cover and leave to rise
until doubled in size (about 1-1&1/2 hr).
Release the gas by stirring the mixture and giving it a quick
mix using your hand. Then allow the dough to rest for about 20-30 minutes.
Begin heating the oil in a large heavy pan (about 15-20mins).
Test oil is ready with a small scoop of batter. It should drop to the bottom
and rise with a couple of seconds and begin to turn light golden slowly. If it
browns quickly (within 30 seconds) it's too hot, turn heat down and retry. Keke
should cook slowly (take around 2 minutes each side to brown golden), but
should rise to the top within a couple of seconds otherwise it's not hot enough
and will absorb too much oil.
Using your hand, scoop up a handful of batter and squeeze out
a golf ball size doughnut into the oil. Continue until there's a
single layer of keke in the oil. Turn with a long fork and allow to cook for
around 2 minutes each side until golden brown. Remove from the oil with a
slotted spoon and allow to drain. Test the first keke to ensure it is cooked
through and adjust cooking time or heat for the rest.