Perkedel

Perkedel is believed to be derived from Dutch frikadellen, which is actually a Dutch meatball or minced meat dish. This was owed to Indonesian historical and colonial link to the Netherlands. Unlike frikadellen, the perkedel's main ingredient is not meat, but mashed potato.

Prior to mashing, the potato slices, however, are not boiled as that can cause the perkedel to be too mushy, but deep fried or baked instead. The mashed fried potato is mixed, as much as 1:1 ratio, with ground meat or corned beef. However, sometimes common perkedel contains less or no meat at all. Other than mashed potato, cabe rawit, spring onion, shrimp, fish, peeled corn, or mashed tofu fritters are also common as perkedel ingredients.

The mixture is then mixed with chopped scallion and seasoned with white pepper powder, then shaped into flat round patties and dipped in egg yolk or beaten egg, before being deep fried.

The potato mix may also be stuffed into tofu puffs before frying in a type common in Malaysia known as tauhu begedil (not to be confused with the perkedel tahu above), it is a popular street snack served with a chilli soy dip (sambal kicap).

Perkedel is a popular dish, either for a side dish or an appetizer. In Indonesia, it is usually served with nasi kuning as part of tumpeng, soto ayam chicken soup to common sayur sop (vegetable-chicken soup).