‘Kueh belanda’ are Peranakan Chinese ‘love letters’ (wafer-thin egg rolls). The clapper moulds each have two plates that are clasped tightly together and attached to long handles for manipulating over a charcoal stove. The clappers are etched with animal motifs (such as fish, roosters and snails), which are regarded both auspicious and decorative.The word ‘belanda’ (‘Dutch’ in Bahasa Melayu and Bahasa Indonesia) points to the egg rolls’ Dutch origins. The Dutch have a vast biscuit repertoire, which includes thin wafer biscuits similar to kueh belanda. Many biscuit and cake techniques were passed to the Indonesians by the Dutch and Portuguese. These biscuits may have been brought to Singapore from Malacca by the Peranakan Chinese, who, not knowing the name of the Dutch snack they encountered, simply called it ‘Dutch cake’.
