Traditional: Capucijners met spek

Capucijners area brown pea-like bean that I have not managed to find outside the Netherlands – frequently sold dried, or tinned, they are (when soaked) round, quite firm, and with the texture of kidney beans.

Ingredients

2 large tins capucijners

1 pack spekreepjes (chopped up bacon pieces)

small pickled gherkins

small pickled onions

Method

Empty the two tins of capucijners into a pan, together with the liquid – warm through.  Fry the bacon pieces until very crispy. Drain any remaining liquid from the pan of beans.  Mix bacon and beans together.

When serving, add gherkins and pickled onions.  A very welcome addition is to garnish with mayonnaise.

More variations on this are to flavour the mayonnaise with mustard, and to serve pineapple chunks with the beans.  Diced apple also works well.

Traditional – Uitsmijter

It’s probably stretching things to call this a recipe, rather like saying “Beans on Toast” is a recipe, but it is a recogniseable item of food eaten by the Dutch – certainly at home.

Ingredients

Butter

2 slices (white) bread

2 slices ham or cheese

2 eggs

Butter the bread.  Lay the cheese slices or ham slices on top of each slice of bread.  Fry the eggs (also in butter, but oil could be used instead).

Tasty and Healthy – Stirfry Chinese Leaf and Shrimps (34)

Stirfry Chinese Leaf with shrimps

Ingredients

2 shallots

1 garlic clove

1 head Chinese leaf

2 dessert spoons (sunflower) oil

2 tablespoons Thai Red Curry paste

350G peeled shrimps

4 dessert spoons natural yoghurt.

Method:

Peel and finely chop the shallots and clove of garlic.  Wash the Chinese leaves, half them lengthwise and throw away the stalk.  Slice the leaves into strips of about 2cm .

Heat the oil in a wok and fry the shallots and garlic for about 2 minutes.  Stir in the curry paste and add the chinese leaf.  Stirfry for about 3 minutes.  Add the shrimps and warm through for about one minute.  Spoon the meal onto plates and spoon the yoghurt on top.

This is nice with yellow rice or noodles and fried peppers.

Hopefully the above is an accurate translation of this:

Roergebakken Chinese kool met garnalen.

2 sjalotjes

1 knoflookteentje

1 struik Chinese kool

2 el (zonnebloem) olie

2 tl Thaise rode curry pasta

350 gr gepelde Norse garnalen

4 el yoghurt

Pel en snipper de sjalotjes en het knoflookeentje.  Maak de kool schoon, halveer hem overlangs en verwijder de stronk.  Snijd de kool in repen van 2cm.  Verhit de olie in een wok en bak de sjalot en knoflook ca 2 minuten.  Roer de curry erdoor en voeg de kool toe.  Roerbak het geheel in ca 3 minuten.  Voeg de garnalen toe en laat die, al omscheppend, in ca 1 minuut door en door warm worden.  Schep het gerecht op de borden en schep de yoghurt erop.  Lekker met gele rijst of mie en roergebakken paprika.