Kapsalon is the Dutch word for hair salon. It is also the name of a very popular Dutch fast food. Why? Well, this meal was invented by a hairdresser in the city of Rotterdam in 2003. One day, at the neighboring shawarma restaurant, he asked to combine all his favorite ingredients into one dish. The…
Most of my grocery shopping I do at my favorite supermarket Trader Joe’s. Unlike many larger stores, they don’t have an ‘international’ or ‘ethnic’ food isle. Even those supermarkets that do, generally don’t feature Indonesian products. Most often you can only find Chinese, Thai, or Mexican food products. The one familiar product that these supermarkets…
While in the airplane to Amsterdam, I already imagine sinking my teeth in my favorite snack and street food. The number one snack destined to meet its fate is the kroket, named after the French croquette. The Dutch kroket, is cylindrical shaped, deep-fried, breaded and filled with a creamy meat ragout (usually with beef, broth,…
Indo Rice Balls are a snack and a popular street food that hails from the Netherlands. It’s inspired by a popular Indonesian dish called nasi goreng – fried rice. This snack is known as nasibal, a deep fried breaded ball with a filling of spicy fried rice. It was founded back in the early 1950’s…
Are you in search of a recipe for beef noodle soup? Look no Pho-rther… I say: try Pho (pronounced “fuh”). A popular street food in Vietnam and also here in LA! WHAT’S IN A NAME? While passing a Vietnamese restaurant, the other day, I saw a big Pho sign. This triggered not only a sudden…
Lumpia (pronounced loom-p-yah) has been a popular snack in East Asia for centuries. In English known as egg roll because of crêpe pastry skin made with egg. The other name is spring roll as it is believed that it was filled with the new season’s spring vegetables in China. The lumpia was brought by Chinese immigrants…
At Irvine’s largest annual event Global Village Festival (23 September 2017) more than 20,000 visitors experienced a multi-cultural day with musical performances, dance, arts & crafts and food samples from all over the world. We were there to launch our special festival treat PISANG GORENG (pronounced: pee-sahng-gor-reng), Indonesian style banana fritters. It was a festive premiere of our…
I can include quite a few comfort meals to my repertoire, one of which is Mie (Bami) Goreng, Indonesian fried noodles, also known as Mie Tek Tek and sold by street hawkers in Indonesia. Named after the sound of the spatula hitting the wok: ‘tek-tek’. Derived from the Chinese Low- Mein or Chow Mein but with an…
“Ke-to-praaaak, Ke-to-praaak!” That is what I would shout when pushing a cart selling this popular and delicious salad. I would want everyone to hear it and I would probably get arrested for disturbing the peace. This traveling chef made him self heard by hitting a spoon against a plate, while passing down the street in Jakarta where my…