The Indo Burger / Bitterballen
Before we go into the recipe and the why behind creating it, here’s a little info what Bitterballen* are and why I love them so much.
What are Bitterballen*?
Bitterballen are a Dutch meat-based snack, made by making a very thick stew thickened with roux and beef stock and generously loaded with meat, refrigerating the stew until it firms, and then rolling the thick mixture into balls which then get breaded and fried.
What do bitterballen taste like?
The tiny beef balls are deep fried in vegetable oil until crispy and served piping hot with mustard for dipping. My Dutch Bitterballen recipe features flavours like fried beef, parsley, onion and nutmeg.
Why are bitterballen important in the Netherlands?
Bitterballen are small fried balls of beef ragout. They’re one of the Netherlands favorite snacks. Legend says that they originated in the 1900s as a way the housewives found to use meat leftovers to create appetizers. Nowadays they are served in local cafés and bars to accompany drinks (especially beer!). There’s nothing nicer – in my opinion – to sit outside a cafe in summer, watching people whilst having an ice cold beer and some tasty hot bitterballen.
***
When I cooked up the recipes for our Burger Ball (August 2022) I knew I had to include the humble bitterbal somehow. Since I can’t buy a bag of frozen bitterballen here in the UK, I always have make them from scratch and having them makes them just that bit more special for it. Throw in the Dutch links to Indonesia and the Saté-like Bitterbal is born.
This recipe takes quite a while to make and there are several stages in the making process so lets line them out.
1. Slow cooked beef
2. Making of the roux filling
3. Making the satay sauce
4. Making of the bitterbal and/or burger
5. Assembling the Indo Burger
So let’s begin with the first step: making the slow cooked beef. Now with this part its best if you can give it the time it deserves. The longer you can cook this for the better the flavours.
The rest of the steps can follow in fairly short succession and I will talk you through the process in the directions.
Enjoy, and as always, let me know if you try your hand at one of my recipes, I love to know what you think!
Ingredients
**for the slow cooked beef**
750g beef shank
I usually get brisket
1½ L water
cold
Salt
a good big pinch
1 tsp crushed black pepper corns
or coarsely ground
3 Bay leaves
I use dried
Pinch of thyme
dried
1tsp mace
ground
2-3 stalks of celery
chopped in big chunks, to fit your pan
1 Carrot
cut in half and quartered
1 Leek
chopped in big chunks, to fit your pan
Parsley, flat leaf
few sprigs
1 Lemon
sliced
1 Lemon
juiced
**for the roux filling**
1 Onion (small)
very finely minced, the smaller the better
50g Butter
minimum
60g flour
minimum
300ml of stock
this is the liquid after cooking your beef in it - do not throw it away!
Black pepper
freshly ground, to taste
½tsp Nutmeg
or to taste
Salt
to taste
Maggie - liquid aroma
a few drops to taste
**for the satay sauce**
these measure are approximates, I always make this to taste
140g smooth peanut butter
92g water
9g sambal
or more if you like spicy
140g ketjap manis
23g sugar
10g Curry powder (mild)
7g Paprika powder
3g djahé (ginger powder)
**the making of the bitterbal and/or burger**
Satay sauce
recipe above, add to taste or leave out for just Bitterballen
Plain flour
enough to cover burgers or balls
2 Eggs
whisked with a bit water
Panko breadcrum
Vegetable oil - lots
in a deep pan, or use a deep fryer
**for the Indo Burger**
Burger buns
fluffy white is nicest, but can use brioche
Lettuce
sweet little gem
Mayonaise
Crispy fried onions
shop bought
Pickled cucamelons
(see pickled cucamelon recipe ) or use cornichons
Satay sauce
as per recipe above
Cucumber ribbons
I used a vegetable peeler for thin strips
Directions
**for the slow cooked beef**
- Put all the ingredients in a big enough pot, cover with cold water and bring to a boil.
- Once it boils a foam will appear on the surface, scrape this off, you can do this with a fine sieve or a (fine) slotted spoon.
- Turn down the heat and let this simmer for a good 2-3 hours. You want the water to reduce by almost half. Don’t throw it away, you’ll need this stock for the roux!
- Turn the heat off and let pan and contents cool completely.
**for the roux filling**
- Now that your beef is nice and tender you need to fish it out of the cooled stock. You could drain and sieve your stock liquid and either compost or reuse the veggies for something else – I just compost it.
- Set yourself up with a chopping board and a couple of forks (or whatever tool you find most useful in shredding) and shred your chunks to beef. Again, the finer the better as it means it will mix best and equally with your roux.
- Mince your onion to super fine.
- Heat a big frying pan and add the butter. Once melted, but not browning, add your finely chopped onion.
- Fry the onion until translucent and no longer raw.
- Add the flour, a bit at a time and mix it in your butter & onion until completely absorbed and it starts to form a crumbly ball like texture.
- Add the stock (from your slow cooked beef) a bit at a time until you have a mixture that is sticky but smooth, gloopy but firm. this is the base of your Bitterbal filling!
- Add your shredded beef and mix well into the mixture.
- Add the seasonings and stir well. This is also where you add your satay sauce and mix in well. Add to taste, more is better in my opinion. Leave the satay sauce out if you want ordinary Bitterballen.
- Let this rest, and put in the fridge to cool further and stiffen up completely.
**for the satay sauce**
- In a sauce pan, combine all ingredients and on a gentle heat (it needs to be hot enough for the peanut butter to ‘melt’ but cool enough for it to not boil).
- Stir well until all ingredients are incorporated and do the taste and texture test.
- Taste wise, main thing is go with what you like. Mine is usually more on the sweeter side but with a nice spicy kick at the end. Texture wise, not too wet but needs to slowly glide off of your spoon.
**the making of the bitterbal and/or burger**
- Add some satay sauce to your beef roux mixture before chilling in the fridge.
- Once the filling has chilled and stiffened enough (a good few hours?) you can take it out and start the process of shaping.
- For Bitterballen you’d want a little smaller than a ping pong ball, for the burger patty I weighed the total of my filling and divided by 8, they came to 132gr each, roughly.
- Roll or shape your desired forms. It’s sticky work, wet hands (water) can help or a few extra hands/people helping to divide, roll & coat. *You can opt to freeze them at this stage for later use. (If doing this defrost before rolling through the following steps)
- Work fast, as soon as you’ve shaped, roll through flour to coat evenly. At this stage you could use a plate or other movable surface to coat all filling until you’re ready for the next step. Don’t wait to long though.
- Next up you roll your flour covered shaped filling through the egg, swiftly followed by rolling them through the breadcrumb. You may get why it’s easier to do this with a few people and get a sort of production line going. Don’t get discouraged to do this though. They are absolutely worth it and doable by yourself. Just a bit messier 🙂
- Once they’re coated in flour, egg & breadcrumb they’re ready to be deep fried. Make sure your oil is hot. Do only a few burgers a time, if it fits do four burgers at a time. Take them out once they have the desired deep brown colour or float 😆
- Set aside on a plate covered in several layers of kitchen roll, just to have it absorb any excess oil.
**Burgers assemble!**
- Cut your bun open and on the bottom half put your desired amount of mayonnaise.
- Add your lettuce & cucumber ribbons and the Bitterbal-burger patty
- A good big dollop of satay sauce, chopped up pickled cucamelon/cornichons, crispy onions, top half of your bun, enjoy!