Frikandel and Frites

At the end of November Hendrik and I stayed in one Saturday, night watched movies, and had one of our favorite Dutch meals....frikandel and frites.  Now your probably saying what the hell is a frikandel?  Well its just what you would think LOL....its essentially a Dutch hot dog but the flavor is way different.  The meat has a really seasoned taste that somehow just works.  The first time I'd ever had a frikandel was in Holland back in March and it was a huge deal.  Its more of a treat and the entire family was involved and super excited. Frites are just french fries that go perfectly with the hot dog style meal.

got my long-John pajamas on and I'm ready to gorge my belly and my mind on food and bad TV

Frikandel are very hard to find outside of Holland because there are a handful of stores in the US that are Dutch stores and none of them are near Texas. With the intense heat its not safe to ship meat and perishable goods.  After we returned from Holland in March I hunted down the store that sold frikandel.  Vanderveen's Dutch store is a store that Hendrik's family buys a lot of Dutch items from and they just so happened to start carrying frikandel.  We had to wait until the "Fall" to get some cooler weather before they would ship them but as soon as we had a few cool days in the forecast Roelie, Hendrik's mom , put in our order!

The cooking process of frikandel is simple and fast.  You simply get a pot of oil hot and once you put in the frikandel you cook them for 5-7 minutes until the color is a nice brown.  Pull them from the hot oil and lay on a plate covered in paper towels.  I wanted to do my meal the most Dutch way so instead of making sweet potato fries or homemade french fries I bought stringy frozen fries and baked them.  In Holland we fry them but that takes a while and that's even more added grease so I opted out of that.

What makes frikandel SPECIAL are the condiments that go along.  Most people like frikandel special and this is what makes it special:

Curry- more like a Dutch ketchup but way better than ketchup more sweet less acid and tomato and there's nothing Indian about it

Frite Sauce- relates most to an American mayonnaise but the Dutch type is very mild and creamy that goes great mixed into other things like curry

Onions- they need no introduction

You mix curry, frite sauce and chopped onions all together to make not only a dipping sauce for your fries but the filling for your frikandel.  Hendrik does all this minus the onions of course and I load mine up!  The end result is a split open frikandel which you fill with your mixture and cut and eat with your fries.

This meal is a once or twice a year type meal and such treat especially having it in the US.  Its so yummy!