Going to Market: food stalls part 2

In addition to the fried fish, fried chicken, and fried potato stalls at the market, there's also a bunch of more unique food options.

At Woenselse Markt there's an Indian/Afghani stall, where I tried these mantou. Basically little meat filled dumplings, they're covered in tomato-based sauce and sour cream. Really delicious - tangy and rich at the same time - and only €3.

There is also a Vietnamese spring roll seller at Woenselse Markt and the Wednesday market. I've also seen the same seller randomly in the parking lot of Praxis all the way out in Ekkersrijt where the Ikea is. I decided to try one for research purposes. It wasn't bad, just really greasy from having sat under the heat lamp for a while.

At Woenselse Markt, I've seen a lot of people eating sausages with mounds of sauerkraut on top. Thinking it would have a special Dutch name, I found out that it's called "hot dog." So I tried a "hot dog" and it really is more of a bratwurst, pale with little green flecks inside. Reminds me of eating the brats at Kroeger & Sons at Cincinnati's Findlay Market, only Kroeger & Son's was way better (had that taut skin which let out a burst of juice when you bit in).

Going to Market: food stalls part 1

There are quite a few markets around Eindhoven; the ones I've been to are the Tuesday market in town center, the Wednesday market in the parking lot of Winkelcentrum Woensel, and the Saturday Woenselse Markt. They're quite fun for me because it's a chance to indulge in snack-y food, my favorite. This post is about the more "Dutch" type foods, whereas the next post will be about the less "Dutch" type foods.

The first time I ate at the markets was the Tuesday market when I first moved to the Netherlands. We came across a fish seller, and at one end of the stall was the prepared food section. We tried 500g of "kibbeling" not knowing what it was, for €5 (including free sauce). It turns out that half a kilo fills up an entire paper bag, enough for two people for two meals! Kibbeling is breaded and fried pieces of cod, sprinkled with savory seasonings (you can see red and white flecks). They fry up a fresh batch for you when you say you will eat it on the spot, even if they've just taken another batch out of the fryer a second ago.

The kibbeling was quite good, though could be a bit greasy. Though that's what you crave sometimes isn't it? So I went back to the friendly fish mongers when they were at the Wednesday market and tried the "lekkerbekjes," which is a whole piece of fried fish. It's not specified which fish it is, but can be cod or whiting. This was also greasy, but the whole fish turned out to be so juicy and tender on the inside. I now crave this!

Of course there's always frites, thick cut and freshly fried. Most people get it with fritesaus (aka mayonnaise) on top. In total this costs €2 for the cone, the smallest portion you can get. Note that it's basically a meal in itself, not a side order to something else (which is a mistake I made once!).

There will always be a stroopwafel seller, with freshly made stroopwafels. They're basically a buttery waffle cookie with caramel in between. I became a bit less enamored of these when I noticed a stroopwafel seller with boxes upon boxes of commercially made cookie dough next to the stand. He would reach in for a pre-measured round of dough to then press into the waffle press. There must be a Sysco of stroopwafels.

There is also always a rotisserie chicken seller. I haven't tried the rotisserie chicken yet, but I've had the hot wings which are great - crunchy and truly spicy. I observed a rotisserie chicken seller setting up one day, and he basically put par-roasted chickens on a spit onto the rotisserie in the morning. I wonder if there's a Sysco for chicken too.

Filet Americain

I learned about Filet Americain even before I came to the Netherlands. One of my favorite blogs, A Touch of Dutch written by an American living and working in the Netherlands, had posted about it a while back.

I really wanted to try it, since the name implies it's American-style, but nothing remotely like it exists in America. It's basically steak tartare, but here apparently the beef is ground up so fine it's basically meat puree. When it went on sale at Albert Heijn, I picked up a container, complete with chopped onions.













You know, it wasn't bad at all. The meat is such a paste-like consistency, and it's spiced so heavily, you actually forget it's meat at all. I spread it on crackers like I would eat hummus, and also had it between bread as a sandwich.













The last time I had raw beef, it was the wagyu beef carpaccio salad with sesame miso dressing at Matsugen in NY, last year. Ah, to have a paycheck again! To think that this was only the second of four courses. Totally unrelated to the Filet Americain from the supermarket.

Would I eat Filet Americain again? Probably. Would I buy it for myself again? Probably not.

Eindhoven Light Route

A few weeks ago as I was biking around, I noticed that a lot of Eindhoven's streets were now lined with light displays. There were some large ones along the main roads, as well as smaller ones hanging from street lights.

My first thought was, wow, they really start Christmas early here.

My second thought was, have I been transported to mainland China, with their abundance of animated neon light displays?

See, this whale display isn't static - the splash of water comes out of the blowhole in increments, and when that's complete the mermaid appears.













But I later learned that actually this is the Eindhoven Lichtjesroute, an annual tradition marking the liberation of Eindhoven from Nazi occupation on September 18, 1944. (Side note: when I told people at home that I'd be moving to Eindhoven, quite a few had heard of the city before, because of the battle that took place here.) The path that the American and British troops took was celebrated with light displays, since Eindhoven is the city of the Philips light bulb. And that tradition continues today, from September 18 to the second weekend in October. Below is light display representing Evoluon, a UFO-looking building built by Philips, and sort of a landmark of Eindhoven.













In general I have felt that most Dutch people have a favorable disposition to Americans. A Swedish person living here, who had previously lived in the US told me that she thought the Netherlands was culturally "in between" Europe and America. Maybe it's because of this history of being liberated by American troops?

Cooking at Home: Turkish

Continuing on the theme of my last post on cooking Asian food at home, I tried my hand at replicating a couple of the recipes I learned at my cooking class in Istanbul. I shouldn't have been surprised by how easy it was to get all of the ingredients in the Netherlands, given the amount of Turkish people living here. The phone company KPN, for example, specifically and exclusively calls out Turkey as one of the countries included in its calling plan.

At a store called Istanbul Market adjacent to Woenselse Markt, I found a selection of bulghur wider than one can ever imagine. Similar to the rice selection at any Asian market. I also got my dried mint and red lentils there there. But the thing is, at my local Albert Heijn XL there's a Turkish section with these items, in addition to the dried hot peppers and red pepper paste I bought there. (Side note, the ubiquitous Albert Heijn has become my go-to market for everything, and it's actually part of the company Ahold. Ahold also owns Stop & Shop and Giant supermarkets in the US, making it one of my big customers in my previous life. Albert Heijn XL is the "large" format of Albert Heijn, but XL here equals a small Kroger or Safeway or Stop & Shop in the US).














I'm happy to report that the braised green beans (Zeytinyağlı taze fasulye) turned out perfectly. Basically you just combine green beans, chopped onion, garlic, and diced tomatoes, and braise them in water, olive oil, lemon juice, and a pinch of salt, sugar, and pepper, mixing in chopped dill at the end. Great eaten cold or at room temperature. Ezogelin çorbası, the spicy lentil and bulghur soup that I loved in Turkey also came out really well. Recipe along with the review of the Istanbul cooking class is here.