Oliebollens

I was walking around the city centre in a lovely Dutch town I once lived in called Enschede. The winds were filled with promise, the town lit up with lovely Christmas decorations and Underneath the Tree by Kelly Clarkson playing in a loop. Most of my evenings around Christmas time in Enschede looked like this.

On this particular Christmas evening, an old friend and I decided to go on an evening stroll and that’s when we saw a lovely truck with people gathered around. We got closer and realized that they were selling Oliebollens, we got excited as they reminded us of similar snacks from our cultures. This is how the well-loved oliebollens came into my life.

I’m convinced that most cultures around the world have their versions of oliebollens. In Nigeria, we have a similar recipe made similarly called puff-puff which is a traditional snack made of fried dough (I have a good puff-puff recipe I’d be happy to share soon :)). In Kenya, they have a snack called Mandazi, which is a form of fried bread that originated in the Swahili coast. In Poland, they have a similar recipe called Paczki a fried dough recipe often with some sort of filling inside. And in New Orleans and in France, they have variations of what they refer to as beignets. As you can see, the list goes on.

What I find lovely about this concept of frying dough that is beloved by so many cultures around the world is that although usually simple recipes that use a minimal set of requirements, I find that each culture somehow manages to add its twist to it.

Oliebollens literally translates to oily balls and are traditionally eaten on New Year’s eve, and also during the Christmas season in the Netherlands. It’s a lovely and relatively simple recipe to make around this time of year, served with a lovely cup of tea, or a glass of mulled wine.

Okay, let’s begin, shall we?