Comfort Food...For Thought...Lekker, Lekker

By year-end, it will be almost three months we have settled in Delft. This is however not wholly truthful since we had spent a considerable part of that duration (19 days exactly) in Malaysia, in conjunction with the Raya/Eid holidays. In spite of the timeline exaggeration, it does feel as if we have been here for quite long a time.

Notwithstanding Paris, I am now accustomed, with much comfort and zeal, to our routines, schedules and side-trips in the idyllic town of Delft. I cannot say the same about adapting to the weather though, which has advanced to a full-blown winter in recent days. The chilly atmosphere also translates to chapped lips, dried itchy all-over skin, and sallow complexion, to name a few. It also brings about an effect of a different kind – increased appetite! This must be the only plausible explanation for our ravenous eating habits of late. That and coupled with the extended time we lingered outdoors which induces us to fill up our tummies more often than its usual requirement (and what constitutes ‘usual’ also remains to be seen).

The easy access to street (straat) vendors selling food during the weekly afternoon market (Thursdays) and weekend market (Saturdays) is a boon for us, whose limited resources in dishing out Malaysian cuisine, tantalizes our adventurous palate into snapping a few delicious snacks. Also, gourmands like my hubby and I naturally love to sample foreign cooking, even more so the dessert component of such culinary offering. :-)

Hands-down, the most famous and commonplace food item sold at stands (kiosks) is patat frites (literally means potato fries) or (believe it or not) patat for short. However, when you are in Dutch, you eat the fries the Dutchie way – that is, the fries are usually served with a generous dollop of fritessaus (basically mayonnaise – of white or yellow variety). If you are more daring, you can eat yours with pindasaus (peanut sauce) dip, not unlike the peanut sauce we Malaysians (Indonesians or Singaporeans, as a matter of fact) always take with sate, ‘ketupat’ or ‘nasi empit.’

My foray into pindasaus-dipped fries was by accident. I had wanted the fritessaus on my fries but my lack of Dutch vocabulary prompted me to randomly articulate the word which I had presumed meant mayonnaise. Since it was too late to return the gravy-filled patat, I chewed on my fries drizzled with pindasaus with mild apprehension. My initial wariness gave way to a ‘Not bad’ comment, and by the time we reached home, I had finished half of the fries inside the typical patat conical paper! Word to the purists and ketchup/chilli aficionados: pindasaus might be too heavy and strange to munch with fries, but if you want to act like one of the locals, it’s worth a try.

Another stand favourite of mine is oliebollen or ‘Dutch fritter.’ Or some people refer to it as small round doughnut, which is a misnomer because oliebollen is without any hole in the middle. Come in various round sizes, oliebollen often exists and ingests in the plural form and manner respectively. The batter is conceived largely from flour, sugar, water (or milk) and yeast. Other ingredients that might separate one oliebollen from another are the optional raisins, nuts, candied citrusy peels, amongst others.

The traditional albeit greasy method of cooking involves dropping the rolled dough into a large vat of hot cooking oil until it transforms into a crisp, golden ball. Before its final public consumption, the fried brown dough is first dusted with confectionery sugar. My husband was the one who introduced the oliebollen to me, out of a whim, when he bought some at the stand outside of C1000, a Dutch hypermarket. After the first crunch, we were hooked!

Dutchies’ other food peculiarity concerns the king of all meals – breakfast. Therein lies their penchant for sweet-laden fares that culminate in ‘hagelslag’ (or sprinkles). According to the HollandRing website, the Dutch – adults and children – eat about 14 million kilo hagelslag per year on about 850 million slices of bread. It becomes an industry - a lucrative one - unto itself! In fact, the hagelslag comes in a variety of brands and colors, but the most favored by them is the chocolate (but of course!). The Nederlander way of eating hagelslag for breakfast is by sprinkling them on a piece of either buttered or toast bread.

A chocoholic, I was more than inclined to try this particular method of eating a slice of bread. During the fasting month, it became one of my staples during sahoor (pre-dawn meal). However, nowadays the hagelslag box stays untouched in our kitchen shelf in view of other Malaysian foodstuffs inhabiting our kitchen cabinets.

Dutch’s repertoire of easily accessible and ‘fast’ food echoes the perennial quality of their diet. The upside to this non-seasonal availability is our freedom to savor these favorites until the moment we leave the country. Now, isn’t that food for thought!