Bitterballen - Dutch Meatballs

5.0 from 11 reviews

Author: Anita Jacobson

Categories: Side Dish Snack

Cuisines: Indonesian

Ingredients: Beef Vegetables

Prep Time: 1 hour

Cook Time: 30 mins

Total Time: 1 hour 30 mins

Serves: 40 meat balls

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoon butter (Indonesian: mentega)
• 100 gram onion (Indonesian: bawang bombay), minced
• 100 gram white button mushroom (Indonesian: jamur kancing putih), minced
• 200 gram ground beef (Indonesian: daging sapi cincang)
• 40 gram all-purpose flour (Indonesian: tepung terigu)
• 250 ml milk (Indonesian: susu)
• 400 gram potato (Indonesian: kentang), peeled, boiled, and mashed
• 2 teaspoon ground nutmeg (Indonesian: bubuk pala)
• 2 teaspoon salt (Indonesian: garam)
• 1 teaspoon ground white pepper (Indonesian: bubuk merica)
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar (Indonesian: gula)
• 40 gram cheddar (Indonesian: keju cheddar), grated
• 4 stalks of Chinese celery (Indonesian: daun seledri), thinly sliced (Note 1)
• enough oil for deep frying
• Coating
• 2 cups panko bread crumbs (Indonesian: tepung panir)
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• Sauce (mix together the following)
• 2 tablespoon mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoon bottled chili sauce of your choice

Instructions

1. Prepare bitterballen dough: Melt butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Sauté onion until translucent. Add mushroom and cook until wilts. Then add ground beef and cook until no longer pink.
2. Add all-purpose flour, and stir until the mixture clumps together. Slowly pour the milk, and keep stirring until the sauce is thick and smooth.
3. Add mashed potato, nutmeg, salt, ground pepper, sugar, cheddar, and celery leaves. Mix well, and cook until the sauce is dry with no standing liquid. Turn off the heat and set aside.
4. Shape bitterballen: Take a tablespoonful of the potato and beef mixture, and shape it into a round ball. Coat it with loaf crumbs, then egg, and finally coat with bread crumbs again. You should be able to make roughly 40 meatballs. (Note 2)
5. Fry bitterballen: Heat a pot of oil for deep-frying. Fry meatballs in hot oil until golden brown and crispy. Drain meatballs on a wire rack.
6. Serve bitterballen immediately with mayo and chili sauce.

Notes

• (1) You can also use regular celery instead of Chinese celery, but choose the thinner one with plenty of leaves.
• (2) A tablespoon cookie scoop (#60) yields 40 meatballs, a medium-size cookie scoop (#40) yields 28 meatballs.