Vlammetjes

The name already tells you. Vlammetjes, little flames, are not an old farm dish from a province with clay on its boots. They belong to the borreltafel, the drinks table, where bitterballen, cheese cubes, mustard, and small fried things keep a room gezellig, convivial, long after anyone meant to go home.

But let me tell you a secret. This is Dutch food too. The Dutch kitchen did not stop in 1900, fold its hands, and wait to be called bland by tourists. After the war, Indonesian and Indo-Dutch flavours moved from family kitchens into snack bars, supermarkets, and football evenings: sambal, ketjap, garlic, ginger, heat wrapped neatly in pastry. History and cookery, they cannot be separated, even when the evidence arrives from the freezer aisle.

The trick is restraint with the filling and discipline with the frying. Too wet, and the pastry sulks. Too loose, and the little flame becomes a small disaster with oil around it. Cook the mince first until dry and fragrant, cool it completely, wrap it tightly, then fry until the wrapper is crisp and blistered. Hou het altijd simpel, always keep it simple: good sambal, a thin wrapper, hot oil, and enough napkins for honest people.