The Elusive Poffertjes....

My intention to make my very own poffertjes is again delayed with another hurdle. As of now, I still have yet to find the buckwheat flour and not to mention the special pan. Actually the pan is not difficult to get and it is not expensive either. But I just have this weird habit of making my life difficult, so to speak. Two months back, I found this wonderful poffertjes pan made from cast iron. It is slightly different and much heavier (the normal one is very light) and needless to say more expensive. For someone who do not really like to cook, I find pleasures in looking & keeping odd items for the kitchen. I found this pan interesting, for one thing it looked old fashioned and traditional and I love old items. I didn't buy the pan... but I kept thinking about it. For one thing, a friend told me that readymix poffertjes flour is not so nice. When you make your own, it's somehow doesn't taste the same as the one you buy fresh from the local stall. So I hesitate....

Then I found the recipe !!! And it looked simple enough... and according to the lady it was superb !! The secret was to add buckwheat flour to the mixture !! She claimed that it was just a normal pancake if one is to use the normal flour. Now I'm getting really excited... all I have to do now is get the pan and search for buckwheat!!! Of course shopping in Holland can be very frustrating (according to the British) because of their rather limited products. In this case, it happens to be true. The supermarkets sell basically tarwebloem (tepung gandum) and zelfrijzend bak-meel (tepung naik sendiri), I have yet to find bread flour sold in supermarket, eventhough they do have the ready mix for bread, cakes etc. Haahh.... no wonder my homemade bread never really turns out right !!! But I'm sure I will find the elusive buckwheat flour somewhere, I just haven't found the correct shop :D

So last three weeks, while buying halal meat, I told DH that I wanted to buy the pan. Of course typical of him, he said I should just use acuan kuih cara. He was sure it would turn out the same. But I was insistent, and typical of me, I wanted the pan, not the lighter and cheaper one, but the heavier and more expensive pan !!! After buying the meat, I quickly dragged him to the shop. To my surprise, there were so many people in there. The shop was having a closing down sale !!! And it looked like it was having the sale for quite sometime already !! My heart quickened, the sale was good but the not so many stuff left was not a good sign...., I searched, searched and searched and I couldn't find it. A few days later, I went again, just in case I missed it the other day, still couldn't find it.

I had been drooling with the thoughts of eating my very own poffertjes ever since....

The elusive poffertjes..

Dissappointed and disheartened, I made this as a substitute.....

Kuih cara manis :D

This recipe I copied from Hana Memories :

100g flour (I used 150g)

200ml coconut milk (sederhana pekat)

1 table spoon of pandan juice (I don't use)

1 egg

A pinch of salt

A few drops of pandan colouring

-Mix everything and blend if you like. Sieve the mixture (if necessary)

-Pour into the mold, wait for short while and add sugar and cover the top.

-Keep fire small, and it is ready in 2/3 minutes.

Hmmmm.... yummy :D

Poffertjes hmm... Simply Yummy

Poffertjes (sebut pofferces) is a traditional and perhaps most popular Dutch food. Basically it is called Dutch mini pancakes as it resembles small fluffy pancakes about the size of 50 cent. These yummy poffertjes are made using a mixture of buckwheat flour and normal flour added with yeast, milk and egg and cooked using a special pan with small shallow indentations in it. Traditionally it is served hot with a slice of butter and powdered sugar. The taste of melted butter and the powdered sugar on the freshly cooked poffertjes is simply heaven. Though you will find ready-made poffertjes sold in supermarkets, the taste of the freshly made ones sold by the local stalls at the markets is much, much better hmmmm... simply yummy.

10 pieces for 2 euro

Take a generous slice of butter, the more the better.... :D

Poffertjes stall at the market with the big pan...

Poffertjes batter, hmm... they eat them with nuttela as well it seems

The history of poffertjes is linked to a Dutch Abbey during the time of the French Revolution. Due to a shortage of wheatflour, the batter was made using the buckwheat flour resulting in a thicker and tastier pancakes (need to check more on this history)

Though it is traditionally served with butter and powdered sugar, other toppings like cream, strawberry, jam and chocolate sauce are niet verboden (not forbidden). But, reading one of the comment from a Dutch reader in one of the website, it may have been a British interpretation! But for us, we like it the traditional way :D

Fancy A FEBO Snack?

 

Walking down the streets of Amsterdam or any major cities in the Netherlands, it is very difficult to miss FEBO. FEBO is actually a Dutch chain of walk-up fast food vending machines. It offers cheap snacks from a wall lined with coin operated machines. The snacks sit inside little metal boxes with transparent doors and under some kind of heating devices. Simply insert coins, open a little window and retrieve the snack of your choice. Snacks sold are typical Dutch food like croquettes(veal or beef), satay croquettes(whatever that is), frikandellen(sausage), bitterballen(dutch meatball), kaassouffle(deep fried cheese pastry) and typical burgers. The food are prepared behind the wall and are regularly stocked.

While waiting for the train to Paris last week, I managed to take pictures of a FEBO at the Rotterdam station. I had been meaning to take photos of it for quite sometime. This is what it looks like...

Very cheap, as low as 1 Euro

Croquette or maybe frikandel

Burger

Reading some of the comments on the internet, it's said that the snacks are quite tasty, though may not be the healthiest :D

Oliebollen

Oliebollen is a traditional dutch food. "Olie" in Dutch means oil and "bol" means ball, whereas "bollen" is the plural of "bol". A dough mixture of flour, yeast, egg, baking powder, salt and milk is deepfried in hot oil giving rise to the name, I think. Usually raisins, currants, sultanas, apple and banana pieces are added, creating different varieties. They are normally served with powdered sugar.

Here in Holland, it is commonly sold everywhere in town in the months of October to early January. You will definitely not find it in the spring or summer. A search in the wiki says that it is traditionally eaten on new year's eve and at funfair, and sometimes it is referred to in English as Dutch donuts.

Picture courtesy of mr wiki.....

Oliebollen stall

Oliebollen upclose, after a big bite :)

Look at how big the oliebol is...

Nowadays you can buy readymade flour mixture from the supermarkets. All you have to do is add 500ml water to the flour, mix it and leave it for half an hour to rise. Then you can start frying like any other fritter. But still, they only produce the mixture for a limited period of time, once it's sold out, say in January, then you will not be able to buy it anymore, not until the next season. I normally stock 3/4 packets, there is no point in buying a lot of them because the expiry date is normally in April.

Oliebollen mixture

Personally, I think oliebollen is just like our "chokodok" or cucur tepung or cucur "bom" some might say. My late grandmother and my mother used to make it for "kuih petang" or sometimes breakfast...

:)