'Round the World

The first thing that comes to mind when I think of round food is FISH BALLS.  In the Philippines, fish balls are typically sold along busy streets (particularly outside the schools), deep fried in a wok set in a food cart, then served with a sauce made from a mixture of vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, cornstarch, water and hot sauce. 

America has Dunkin' Donuts making MUNCHKINS and Mister Donut selling DONUT HOLES.  Both of these are likewise deep fried.   

Do all round goodies have to be deep fried?   Of course not!

One day, I saw these cake pop pans on the store shelf.  These made little spherical cakes that are baked.

Interesting.  Very interesting.

Then I came across this strange pan.

For a long time I wondered what kind of food was made with this type of pan.  

Eventually I discovered they can be used to make little Dutch pancakes called POFFERTJES.

I've actually tasted a couple of these beauties.  There is a stall that sells these mini-pancakes at the weekend market nearby.  They offer free samples sprinkled with powdered sugar and a hint of syrup.    Yum!

Having been introduced to poffertjes, I understood the purpose of those specialty pans with grooves.

The more I looked, the more things I found.   

In Thailand, they have coconut pancakes called KANOM KOK.

In Japan, they make octopus balls called TAKOYAKI.

(Did you see that guy make takoyaki?  That was impressive!)

Interestingly enough, I discovered that I had copied out a takoyaki recipe from one of the cookbooks I had borrowed from the library.  At that time I had not seen the above video and had no idea what a takoyaki pan was. 

The picture in the cookbook must have really looked good because it was enough to make me want to note down the recipe.

However, I must say that the one I would most like to try to make would be the Danish AEBELSKIVER.  

Aebelskivers are the traditional Danish pancakes that are somewhat a cross between pancakes and popovers, usually made with a small slice of apple enclosed in the batter.   

When I saw a video on how aebelskivers were made, I said to myself, 'Oh that is so amazing!.'

(Don't you think so?)