A relative came over with a box of meat pastry. It’s a recipe we learned from my grandmother who was born and raised in Indonesia.
When my domestic helper, who happens to be Indonesian, saw it, she kept saying “Risol.”
I wasn’t sure what she was talking about; I had expected her to describe the pastry using the same word as the Malays (being part of the archipelago), which is “Dadar.” And the way she pronounced Risol made it more difficult for me to understand her.
It took a while to realize what she was trying to say.
Rissole!
So I googled the word vis a vis Indonesia – and what do you know? It’s a common word over there.
How on earth did the word Rissole end up becoming part of the Indonesian language?
But of course… their Portuguese and Dutch heritage/history (16th/17th Century).
