Ingredients
Base
- 1 kgpotatoes, cut into chips, or 800 g frozen chips
- oil, for deep frying
- salt
Meat
- 400 gshawarma or döner meat, sliced
Cheese
- 200 gyoung Gouda, grated
Salad
- iceberg lettuce, shredded
- 1tomato, diced
- 1cucumber, diced
- 1onion, sliced
Sauces
- knoflooksaus garlic sauce
- sambal or hot sauce
Directions
- Fry the chips twice: once at 160°C (320°F) for 6 minutes to cook them through, then again at 190°C (375°F) for 2 to 3 minutes to crisp them.
- The double fry matters more here than in an ordinary portion of chips, because these are about to sit under melted cheese and hot meat and a limp chip has no chance.
- Salt them and pile them into a metal or foil takeaway tray.
- The tray is part of the dish. It goes under the grill and then straight to the table, and it is eaten out of the tray with a fork.
- Lay the hot shawarma meat over the chips in an even layer.
- Cover the whole surface with grated Gouda, right to the edges.
- Use young Gouda, jonge kaas, which melts smooth and stretches. Aged cheese splits into oil and grain under the grill.
- Put the tray under a hot grill for 3 to 4 minutes, until the cheese has melted completely and is beginning to blister.
- Take it out the moment the cheese is molten. A minute longer and it browns into a rubbery sheet instead of the stretch you want.
- Now pile the cold salad on top of the hot melted cheese.
- Cold salad onto hot cheese, in that order, without exception. Salad added before the grill wilts to nothing, and it is there for the contrast.
- Squeeze garlic sauce and sambal over in heavy stripes.
- Serve immediately, in the tray, with a plastic fork.
- It was invented in 2003 at a Rotterdam shawarma shop for a Cape Verdean hairdresser working next door, and kapsalon is Dutch for hairdressing salon.
Technique
- It is deliberately excessive and it is late-night food, which is the whole point of it.
- Every Dutch shawarma shop sells one and the proportions vary enormously.
- The garlic sauce is a mayonnaise-based knoflooksaus, not a Middle Eastern toum.
Substitutions
- Oven chips, which most home versions use.
- Chicken shawarma, or falafel for a vegetarian tray.
Variations
- With falafel instead of meat.
- With extra sambal, ordered as a spicy kapsalon.
- With curry ketchup in place of the hot sauce.
History
Created in Rotterdam in 2003 for hairdresser Nathaniël Gomes, who ordered the combination at a nearby shawarma shop; kapsalon means hair salon.
Frequently asked questions
What is Kapsalon?
Kapsalon is a street food from Netherlands: tray of fries topped with shawarma, melted gouda, salad and garlic sauce. Created in Rotterdam in 2003 for hairdresser Nathaniël Gomes, who ordered the combination at a nearby shawarma shop; kapsalon means hair salon.
How long does Kapsalon take to make?
Kapsalon takes 15 min of preparation and 20 min of cooking. The recipe makes 2 servings. It is rated easy to make.
What can I substitute in Kapsalon?
Yes, within limits. Oven chips, which most home versions use. Chicken shawarma, or falafel for a vegetarian tray.
What is the most important thing to get right in Kapsalon?
Cover the whole surface with grated Gouda, right to the edges.
