Most Dutch-Indonesians I know mainly eat perkedel jagung (corn fritters) but I’ve always got perkedel kol bunga (cauliflower fritters) growing up.
It’s a recipe from a small cookbook called Rijst Tafelen (rice tabling, verbing things is awesome – coming up with eating traditions during colonial times and then adding them to your list of Unesco World Intangible Heritage is not) by Lia Warani. A book I don’t see a lot of other Dutch-Indonesians talk about either.
If you can get your hands on it (and know how to read Dutch/ use a translating app) it’s a pretty fun little addition to your Asian(ish, Dutch-Indonesian food differs from Indonesian food proper) cookbook collection.
Spice variations
In the recipe below I’ve included the original spice mix as suggested by Lia Warana. The recipe is headed ‘bloemkoolkoekjes’ (cauliflower cookies) and then basically says: make the recipe for jagung ‘koekjes’ (cookies) but replace the corn with cauliflower. Obviously you could replace the cauliflower with corn in my recipe.
I’ve also included the spice mix I used for the photos. Which is the spice mix from Nik Sharma‘s eggplant pilaf from Season. Obviously a completely different dish, but I had some of the mix leftover and it worked really well.
You can leave out most of the spices or just add your own. I like leaving everything but the spring onions out and topping with good ol’ Old Bay for example. The possibilities are endless.
How do I eat cauliflower fritters?
I grew up having these as a side with rice and a pork and potato perkedel. Nowadays I have them as my main. They go really well with tzatziki or raita stuck on some pita or naan for example.
Perkedel Kol Bunga (Cauliflower Fritters)
Equipment
- Large bowl
- Large frying pan
- Serving spoon
- Plate
- Paper towels
- Slotted spoon or similar for removing the fritters from the oil
Ingredients
- 1 medium cauliflower chopped, see instructions
- 4 T - 60 g flour you can use plain, corn, rice, etc. also work
- 1/2 c - 125 ml water + a little extra, if you don't want to eat vegan 2 eggs with 2 T of water also works
- 4 spring onions finely chopped
- vegetable oil for shallow frying, I prefer sunflower
Option 1: Lia Warani's spice mix
- 1 1/2 T - 25 g desiccated coconut
- 2 shallots finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic finely chopped
- 3 sprigs parsley finely chopped
- 1 chili deseeded and finely chopped
Option 2: Nik Sharma's spice mix
- 1/2 t - 2.5 g ground black pepper
- 1/2 t - 2.5 g ground coriander
- 1/4 t - 1.25 g ground chili flakes
- 1/4 t - 1.25 g ground turmeric
- 1/4 t - 1.25 g ground green cardamom
- 1/4 t - 1.25 g ground cloves
Option 3
- whatever you think works
To finish
- sprinkling salt
Instructions
To prepare the cauliflower
- Remove the outer leaves from your cauliflower and then start slicing off the outer layer of the florets.* You should cut about 1/4 inch - 5mm deep. Crumble these layers into smaller pieces of various sized using your hands. Note: little bits of cauliflower will get everywhere, but I promise you it's worth it.
Make the perkedel kol bunga
- Mix together 4 T - 60 g of flour of choice with 1/2 c - 125 ml of water thoroughly until you have a thin batter.
- Now mix the spring onions and cauliflower and whichever spice mix you are using into the batter until well combined.
- Preheat a thin layer of oil in a frying pan on a medium-high heat and set aside a plate with some paper towels.
- Once the oil is good and hot, it should be shimmering but not smoking, remix the cauliflower batter with your spoon, so you get a good mixture of batter and vegetable in your serving spoon and spoon out an even layer, gently sliding it into the hot oil and flattening it a little into an even layer. If pieces of cauliflower separate themselves just gently tuck them back or attach them to the fritter with a little more batter.
- Bake on one side until golden and crisp and then turn over and bake until the top is golden and crisp. This takes about 2-4 minutes on each side. Do not overcrowd the pan, in my frying pan I can bake about 3-4 max per batch.
- Remove from the pan. Drain on the kitchen towel and season with salt. They are most delicious fresh and great with rice and some greens, as a snack, on some pita with tzatziki or raita, etc. etc.
Notes
