Dutch food traditions
As a Dutchie, I may be most nostalgic about some typical Dutch food over other things. Living abroad since 2016 means that there are many typical Dutch foods that I didn't eat for 8,5 years now but of course there are things that I've managed to buy either in Budapest or later here in Spain by finding out about shops selling typical products from other countries. In Budapest for example, I learned that they did sell "hagelslag" the typical Dutch chocolate sprinkles we eat for breakfast or lunch on our bread by just going to the baking department. Sadly it was usually sold in small packages, not ideal for breat toppings but it helped keeping the cravings in check.
In Budapest I also found "rookworst" (smoked saugage) after a few years but only sold at one butcher in the market near our home and only sometimes. I tried a few others over the years and none of them came close to the sausage we know from Holland. In Spain I just buy the long shelve life rookworst from an online store.
Oliebollen
When winter arrives in Holland, probably mostly around November, big food trucks selling "oliebollen" pop up at more and more places. For example, we had one of these trucks in front of the shopping mall where I grew up once it was that time of the year. But not just at shopping malls, no, very crowded do it yourself stores / construction markets would also have an oliebollen foodtruck in front of the entrance for a few months in a row.
I remember the yearly contests where they would announce the best quality oliebollen of that year and that some fell in the prizes year after year. Although called "olie" which means "oil" and "bollen" which is "balls" they should not be greasy but fried with care. Definitely not every food truck selling these has a winner oliebol! Whenever I bought one that was extremely greasy, I never went back.
Although I don't know the exact ingredients and measurements of these Dutch delights, I was so happy when I succesfully prepped my first batch (ever) of oliebollen at home a few days ago. They are typically served with New Years Eve and it means that every oliebollenkraam has huge lines of people waiting to buy bags of 10 or 20 to share with the family or friends that evening while waiting for the new year to start. I don't think I ever had a New Years Eve without oliebollen while living in Holland.
Ready to mix
I saw the mixes for oliebollen on sale last month when ordering some other Dutch delights and decided to buy a pack. I didn't want the hasstle of prepping the mix as it was my first attempt to make them so I took the easy route this time. I'm happy I did because they turned out great!
The mix had 45 minutes time to rise and I put it in the microwave to avoid wind (as it's quite cold in our kitchen and sometimes windy as well), great choice because I had no doubt that the mix didn't rise enough. I bought cheap sunflower oil to fry this in because we don't have a fryer (only an air fryer) and I know the oil will probably not be used anymore or barely after this, the other oils are much more expensive.
I don't have an ice scoop at home, so I had to improvise with two spoons to get the dough in the oil. As you can see the first ones weren't even that bad.
Some looked like a fish, lol, but the frying seemed to go smooth.
Look at the colour of the first 4, already nearly done!
Looking good!!!
Some winners, some failed in form but still tasted great. Next time I will try an ice scoop to see if that really goes much smoother. Still I can't complain about the result at all!
The first test oliebol was for my daughter because she never ate one until a few days ago. She loved it. Of course topped with lots of powdered sugar, as per Dutch tradition!
This is the bowl of those left after using all the mix that afternoon. We stole one here and there when we felt like it, after all they weren't huge but medium sized. None of them had raisins in it because my boyfriend would be the only one eating that and from what I remember, he always complained about the greasy oliebollen in Holland (stomach issues) so I thought he was not going to try more than 1, maybe 2 and then be done with it.
I was wrong, he ate from it three times, and no complaints so these were definetely not greasy. A succes and new family tradition has born.
Have you ever tried a Dutch oliebol? Or do you have something similar in your country, called differently? Let me know in the comments..
All pictures above are mine..