A real tradition, with old and new many people in the Netherlands eat oliebollen, an original Dutch recipe that dates back to the Middle Ages. But how do you make that traditional oliebol and what do you need for it? Everything is explained step by step here. And if you are not that into the traditional, there are also some tasty variations for the oliebollen recipe.
A traditional fried yeast dish, that is the category under which you can find the oliebol. It is said that Germanic tribes invented the recipe of the oliebol in the era we call the Middle Ages. The dish was eaten during the “Joel Feast”, a feast that lasted twelve days and celebrated the solstice. The solstice always takes place on the shortest day of the year with the sun in the most northerly or southerly position as seen from Earth.
The oliebollen were eaten at this feast to ensure that evil spirits would go away. In addition to consuming oliebollen yourself, many other fried dishes were also offered for the spirits. The Germans believed that the fat would keep the spirits happy.
Nowadays you can find oliebollen during Christmas and New Year’s Eve, but almost all fairs also have a large oliebollen stand. In addition to the Netherlands, many oliebollen are also consumed in Belgium.
Traditional recipe
You can easily make real oliebollen yourself instead of from a package, make sure you have a deep fryer or a large pan with a thick bottom. The dough is easiest to make in a bucket because it will rise a lot.
Requirements about 35 oliebollen
1 kilo of wheat flour
1 liter of water
20 grams of salt
50 grams of sugar
80 grams of yeast
lemon juice
8 grams of cinnamon
Preparation
Dissolve the yeast in the water and mix briefly with a whisk. Then add the flour to the water and yeast mixture and mix the batter with a mixer until smooth. Then add the salt, sugar, cinnamon and a few drops of lemon juice and the batter and mix well. Now put the batter away in a warm place for at least 60 minutes, such as the windowsill above the heater. Place a damp tea towel over the bucket, do not remove the tea towel for hours. This interferes with the fermentation process.
Heat the deep fryer to 190 degrees Celsius, if you use a pan make sure the oil is 180 degrees Celsius.
Spoon the batter into the oil with an ice cream scoop and let the oliebollen sit for about 6 minutes. Never put too many oliebollen together, this will disturb the baking process and can prevent your oliebollen from being cooked on the inside. The best oil to use is peanut oil.
Serving
Place the oliebollen on a large bowl and sprinkle some icing sugar on top. If you prefer to eat the oliebollen hot, you can put them in the microwave for 1 minute at 400 watts.
Variation
It is possible to vary with oliebollen, for example you can add raisins or apple cubes. It is also possible to make the batter with beer instead of water. If you want the recipe with raisins, you only need to add 200 grams of raisins to the above recipe. For the recipe with apple cubes, add 100 grams of fresh peeled apple cubes.
If you want to make the batter with beer, make sure you have a beer with a high fermentation at room temperature.
apple Fritters
In addition to oliebollen, apple fritters are often eaten during New Year’s Eve. Apple fritters are apple slices surrounded by a crispy dough layer. The apple fritters can be fried in the deep fryer or in a regular pan with a thick bottom.
Necessities about 20 apple fritters
150 grams of self-raising flour
1 egg
200 milliliters of milk
5 grams of salt
6 gold rushes
cinnamon
Preparation
Put the flour in a large bowl and add the egg and milk, beat until smooth. Then add the salt and cinnamon. Core and peel the gold rennets, then cut the gold rennets into about half an inch slices. Add the apple slices to the batter and place them in the warm oil, fry them for about 4 minutes until golden brown and let them drain on kitchen paper.
Serving
Serve the apple fritters on a large bowl with some icing sugar on top. You can also smear them lightly with jam.
