HITTING THE HOT OIL

All day long I've been thinking about the small intimate dinner a friend overseas had with his wife at a cosy bistro in their city. Over a dozen dishes. Two of three of which were sambal goreng. Among the others were daging sapi with kentang, gule ayam, plus various sayurs, asinan, and sate. No, they are not overweight. And a dozen dishes is NOT excessive.

Also: krupuk, serundeng, atjar tjampur. And a soup.

When my apartment mate and I went to the Netherlands, at the restaurant around the corner from the hotel the auntie who owned it was fascinated by us. One caucasian man who spoke bahasa, one Asian woman who did not. How remarkable! White dudes who speak Malay are a dime a dozen, but that may have been the first time she encountered a Chinese American.

She kept coming over to our table with stuff we just had to try. Yes of course the Dutchman will eat it, they'll eat anything they're notorious for that; but let's see how broad the tastes and open the mind of this anomalous female might be.

Well, she's of Cantonese heritage.
So guess what? Uh huh.

Neither my apartment nor I are overweight. By any means. Realistically.
Although she's convinced she is, and I do have a pinch.

So naturally I was touched by the social media post of my friend. Good food. In a pleasant place with nice company. But the food especially. The only things missing were the typical Dutch UFOs (unidentified fried objects).

Here in the United States, sambals of various types are very well possible.
When I cook, there's often something Dutch East Indies about it.
Very loose definition, but never the less.

I lack a deepfryer.



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