Recipe: how to make the most delicious oliebollen at home

From polder crayfish soup to these homemade oliebollen: The Bible of Dutch Cuisine is the cookbook for anyone who wants to (better) get to know classic regional dishes from every corner of our country. With her recipes, Janneke Vreugdenhil shows you that Dutch cuisine – including, of course: oliebollen! – is much more diverse, interesting and delicious than you ever imagined.

Janneke: “We used to have a neighbor who wasn’t related to us, but whom we nevertheless called Uncle Leo. Every year, Uncle Leo made oliebollen for the entire neighborhood. His wife, Aunt Janny, didn’t want the smell of frying in her kitchen at any price, so she invariably banished him to the shed behind the house. We neighborhood children swarmed around it all New Year’s Eve like hungry little wolves, hoping for a trial bol, fresh from the boiling oil. Uncle Leo’s oliebollen were always light and airy, thanks to his secret weapon: buttermilk. I still make them the way he did. These are simply the most delicious oliebollen.”

How to make the oliebollen

• In a bowl, mix the grated apple, lemon zest, raisins and currants with a tablespoon of flour. Heat the buttermilk in a saucepan over low heat until lukewarm (do not let it get any warmer, or the milk will curdle).
• Mix the remaining flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in the egg. Start mixing and add the buttermilk at the same time, until a smooth batter forms.
  Gently fold the apple-raisin mixture into the batter. Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel and let the batter rise in a warm, draft-free place for one hour.
• Heat the oil in the deep fryer to 175 °C.
• Dip an ice cream scoop or two large spoons into the hot oil first, then scoop a ball of batter and let it slide into the hot oil. Fry a maximum of five oliebollen at a time; otherwise, the pan will be too full and the oil temperature will drop too much.
• Fry the oliebollen for about 5 minutes until golden brown. Some will turn by themselves when the bottom is brown; others need a little nudge.
• Line a colander with a double layer of kitchen paper. Scoop the oliebollen out of the oil with a wire skimmer and let them drain.
• Continue frying oliebollen this way until all the batter is used. Place them on a serving platter and dust generously with powdered sugar.

Title: The Bible of Dutch Cuisine
Author: Janneke Vreugdenhil
Price: €33,99
Publisher: Carrera Culinair

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