Deep-fried stir-fried noodles

The Netherlands love balls, like meatballs and bitterballen. How do you get rid of surplus bami? Roll it into balls, coat them with breadcrumbs and throw them in the pan between the sausages and croquettes. There you have your ‘bamibal’. Ready-made, hot from the pan, you can eat it out of your hand on the street.[Cf]

The Dutch would not be the Dutch if they did not fry their favorite foods! Coming from a Chinese-Indonesian heritage, bami has taken on a new shape in the Netherlands: the ‘bami snack’. This big chunk of fried bami is a very popular snack. Looking for this snack version of the dish? In the Netherlands every snackbar sells these bami snacks, or you can simply take a look in the freezers of supermarkets to fry some at home.

'Het Nationaal Snackhandboek’, which translates to the ‘national snack guide’ states that the deep-fried snack filled with bami goreng is called a ‘bami snack’. The bami snack is a modification of the Chinese-Indonesian bami goreng and is a Dutch snack that is basically breaded and deep-fried bami goreng. The guide also stated that the first bami goreng snacks were already made in 1965. The reason that they started frying bami goreng, and its friend the nasi goreng, was in order to use leftovers. The ‘bamischijf’ was thus a development of practical origin.

Bami truly has come a long way from its Fujianese origins. Recently a former-snackbar owner developed an even newer variant of the ‘bamischijf’, a new snack that he calls the 'Winky', which is said to be a combination of the Dutch croquette and the bami snack.[Cf] The bami snack has become part of Dutch culture and cuisine, and will surely be consumed by many Dutchmen everyday.