Chef Joost
Acar Ketimun (Indo-Dutch Cucumber Pickle)
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Perkedel Jagung (Indo-Dutch Sweetcorn Fritters)
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The name carries a Dutch word through an Indonesian kitchen: frikadel became perkedel, corn became jagung, and the rijsttafel gained its most dangerous little fritter.
Side Dishes
Dutch
Dinner Party
Special Occasion
Potluck
20 min
Active Time
20 min cook•40 min total
Yield18 small fritters
But let me tell you a secret: some Dutch dishes were never born in the Netherlands. They came back by ship, by memory, by colonial habit, and by families who knew that a proper table needs small fried things people pretend to take only one of. Perkedel jagung belongs to that Indo-Dutch table, the rijsttafel, rice table, where many small dishes gather around rice and make moderation impossible.
The name already tells you the journey. Perkedel is widely understood as an Indonesian reshaping of the Dutch frikadel, a minced-meat patty or sausage word that travelled under colonial rule and came home changed. Jagung is corn. In older Dutch recipe books you may find frikadel djagoeng, the old spelling sitting there like a passport stamp. History and cookery, they cannot be separated, though the fritter itself has the good manners to be simple.
The trick is moisture. Sweetcorn wants to give you water, and water is the enemy of a crisp edge. So you crush part of the kernels for sweetness and body, leave part whole for pop under the teeth, then bind the lot with just enough egg and flour to hold it together. Hou het altijd simpel, always keep it simple: a spoon, a hot pan, shallow oil, and the discipline not to crowd. The fritters should leave the pan golden, craggy, and gone before the rice has any chance to feel important.
Perkedel jagung entered Dutch home cooking through the Indo-Dutch rijsttafel, a colonial-era rice table developed in the Dutch East Indies and later carried to the Netherlands by Indo-European families and postwar repatriates. The word perkedel is commonly traced to Dutch frikadel, adapted into Indonesian usage for small fried patties, while jagung is Indonesian for maize. In older Dutch-Indonesian cookbooks the dish appears as frikadel djagoeng, preserving the pre-1947 Dutch spelling of Indonesian words.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
fresh sweetcorn
Quantity
3 ears or 450g frozen
kernels cut off, or thawed and patted dry
shallots
Quantity
2
finely chopped
garlic cloves
Quantity
2
finely grated
spring onions
Quantity
2
thinly sliced
celery leaf or flat-leaf parsley
Quantity
2 tablespoons
chopped
large egg
Quantity
1
plain flour
Quantity
75g
rice flour or cornflour
Quantity
2 tablespoons
ground coriander
Quantity
1 teaspoon
ground white pepper
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
fine salt
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon, plus more to finish
baking powder
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
neutral oil
Quantity
as needed
for shallow frying
sambal oelek (optional)
Quantity
to serve
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| fresh sweetcornkernels cut off, or thawed and patted dry | 3 ears or 450g frozen |
| shallotsfinely chopped | 2 |
| garlic clovesfinely grated | 2 |
| spring onionsthinly sliced | 2 |
| celery leaf or flat-leaf parsleychopped | 2 tablespoons |
| large egg | 1 |
| plain flour | 75g |
| rice flour or cornflour | 2 tablespoons |
| ground coriander | 1 teaspoon |
| ground white pepper | 1/2 teaspoon |
| fine salt | 1/2 teaspoon, plus more to finish |
| baking powder | 1/2 teaspoon |
| neutral oilfor shallow frying | as needed |
| sambal oelek (optional) | to serve |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy frying pan, 26cm or wider
- •Box grater, fork, or potato masher
- •Wire rack for draining
Instructions
- 1
Crush the corn
Put half the sweetcorn into a bowl and crush it roughly with a fork or potato masher until the kernels split and turn juicy. Leave the rest whole. This gives you the right bargain: sweetness worked into the batter, and whole kernels that burst under the teeth.
- 2
Mix the batter
Add the shallots, garlic, spring onions, celery leaf, egg, plain flour, rice flour, coriander, white pepper, salt, and baking powder. Stir until the mixture holds together in a thick spoonable batter. If it runs like pancake batter, add a tablespoon more flour; if it sits like dough, loosen it with a teaspoon of water.
Pat frozen corn very dry before it meets the bowl. Excess water gives you pale fritters and sulky edges, and nobody came to the rijsttafel for sulky edges. - 3
Heat the oil
Pour neutral oil into a heavy frying pan to a depth of about 1cm and heat it over medium-high heat. Drop in one corn kernel as a test; it should sizzle at once without darkening too quickly. Too cool, and the fritter drinks oil. Too fierce, and the outside browns before the centre sets.
- 4
Fry in spoonfuls
Spoon heaped tablespoons of batter into the pan and flatten them lightly with the back of the spoon. Fry in batches for 2 to 3 minutes per side, until deep golden at the edges and set through the middle. Give them space. A crowded pan lowers the heat and turns frying into a committee meeting.
- 5
Drain and serve
Lift the fritters onto a rack or paper towel and sprinkle lightly with salt while the surface is still glossy with oil. Serve them warm with sambal oelek if you like, beside rice, satay, or any dinner table that understands small fried things are never merely side dishes.
Chef Tips
- •Fresh summer corn is best, because the kernels are sweet and firm. Outside the season, frozen corn is the honest choice; canned corn is softer and must be drained and dried with almost comic seriousness.
- •Rice flour gives the edges a cleaner crispness. If you don't have it, cornflour does the job, and plain flour alone will still feed everyone respectably.
- •Keep cooked fritters on a rack in a low oven if you're frying for a party. Stacking them traps moisture, and the crisp edge is the whole reason the plate empties first.
Advance Preparation
- •The batter can be mixed up to 2 hours ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator; stir once before frying, as corn releases a little liquid while it waits.
- •Fritters are best straight from the pan, but leftovers can be reheated on a rack in a 200C oven for 8 to 10 minutes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 36g)
Calories
80 calories
Total Fat
4 g
Saturated Fat
0 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
3 g
Cholesterol
10 mg
Sodium
120 mg
Total Carbohydrates
10 g
Dietary Fiber
1 g
Sugars
2 g
Protein
2 g
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