Ramzaan

[spaghetttti]

This has got to be one of the most brilliant threads on eG. I'm in absolute total awe! We are observing Ramadhan and reading this has transported me to a wonderful place and time. The photos are spectacular.

Thank you, I humbly return to fast.

Edited October 18, 2004 by spaghetttti (log)

[Episure]

This has got to be one of the most brilliant threads on eG.  I'm in absolute total awe! We are observing Ramadhan and reading this has transported me to a wonderful place and time.  The photos are spectacular.

Thank you, I humbly return to fasting.

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Spaghetttti,

How is Ramzan celebrated in your part of the world?

What do you all eat to break the fast?

Why do you have 4 ts in your name?

[spaghetttti]

Episure, in my family the preparations to welcome Ramadhan begin a few days early with a munggahan, a typically West Javanese tradition where family and friends get together for a symbolic meal together. This can be lunch or dinner or perhaps the first sahur meal before commencing the month-long fast. It can be pretty lavish with many family favorite dishes served.

Our family customarily breaks the fast or ifthar with small servings of sweet and savory, usually served with hot tea and on occasion fruit juices.

We always try to have dates and some savory pastries – samosas filled with spicy fish and vegetables or rissoles are frequently eaten. Kolak or fruits stewed in palm sugar and coconut milk is a popular and traditional treat as well. We always try to be home for ifthar, but should we be caught in traffic, it's bottled water, and a mad drive home!

The evening prayers following ifthar are usually pretty lengthy and appetites are hearty in anticipation of dinner, the major meal of the day. We usually have soup, rice, a meat dish, curried, stewed or stir-fried vegetables and fish or shrimp chips. Sometimes the dishes are hit or miss in the seasoning department; it’s difficult when one cannot taste and adjust seasonings while fasting.

After that it’s a few hours of sleep and then it’s time to wake up for sahur, the morning meal which is usually around 03:00 Bandung time. There are usually leftovers from dinner so sometimes the dishes are re-heated, but occasionally we like to have noodles or porridge sometimes sandwiches. Eating sleepy-eyed in the middle of the night is tricky, so we like quiet, soothing comfort food, which will fuel us for the day of fasting. This is when we take our multi-vitamins, medication, and a spoonful of honey. Then we go back to sleep again until it's time to get up and get ready for work.

Invitations to break the fast come from neighbors, friends, colleagues and family, so many nights we’re celebrating in someone else’s home. The hosts invariably send their guests home with parcels of food for the sahur meal. My husband has just informed me that our turn is a few nights away. (Must go grocery shopping tout de suite!)

Spaghetttti,

Why do you have 4 ts in your name?

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If I tell you, I'll have to kill you.

Edited October 19, 2004 by spaghetttti (log)

[Episure]

Hmmm... sounds pretty much the same as here. Did you make a meal for your friends? Pictures?

If I tell you, I'll have to kill you. 

I can live with that.

Apparently the most popular snack here is the samosa. Not the usual versions, it is the patti samosa that is made with a wonton like wrapper. You have 3 choices - spiced potato, spiced onion and cabbage, and kheema.

I tried to take the camel meat pictures again but that big Mushtanda with the big moustache and an even bigger(than him!) machete gave me an intimidating stare. For a moment I thought I saw a vision of Hannibal Lecter and hot footed it from there. I shall return with the biggest telephoto lens.

I miss Mohamedali road, Vikram, Edward, you guys listening?

[Carrot Top]

I just happened upon this thread while scanning through 'New Posts'.

Sitting here reading, my heart is pounding at not only the intensely visceral descriptions of foods and the photos...both which have a sense of reality and connection which (unfortunately) I rarely see here in the US...but the richness of cultural histories and the stories and symbolic rituals that are threaded through the tastings of food and celebration of life, with humor and such deep knowledge of it all...is simply...staggeringly wonderful, for lack of a better word.

So happy to have stumbled upon this thread. Will carry thoughts of it, and all of you, through the day.

[spaghetttti]

The patti samosas look like they're nice and crispy, Episure. Which kind did you get, all?

Karen, I was so moved reading your post, your kind words brought me to tears.

This is something I made for the small ifthar tonight, my first time making it -- roti korma. Pitted and halved dates wrapped in martabak pastry and pan-fried in butter. We'll also have hot tea, shards of young coconut over shaved ice and a very light sweet mung bean soup. The soup has vanilla in it and has my house smelling so good!

We have invited my parents, the in-laws, our neighbors and some friends to join us break the fast tomorrow. Stay tuned.

[spaghetttti]

We invited 20 people and 35 came, it's a good thing I cooked for 50! For the small ifthar I made puff pastry wrapped dates, a sweet cinnamony azuki bean soup and some mamonto, savory cakes stuffed with a spicy fish and almond filling. I made about 175 of them in dimpled pans which are similar to ones used for making aebleskivers. My lovely neighbor from across the street brought some tapai ketan hitam, fermented black glutinous rice. The really good ones are always wrapped in teakwood leaves. We drank cups of sweetened hot tea and goblets of cool mineral water.

Afterwards, my husband, Sharief, led the shalat maghrib, the prayers performed at dusk. (Too many commas in that sentence )

Then we ate soto ambon, chicken broth flavored and colored with turmeric, ginger, galangal, garlic, (the three g's), lemongrass and loads of spices. Served with rice, the add-ins and toppings were blanched bean sprouts, shredded chicken, glass noodles, quartered hard boiled eggs, chopped celery leaves, golden fried shallots, fried potato sticks, kecap manis and sambal, and tiny potato croquettes. A healthy squeeze of lemon cina , a really fragrant citrus, really brightens up the soup.

My brother-in-law made and brought asinan, a salad of diced pineapples, apples, cucumbers and jicama with a tangy, slightly sweet peppery dressing. Since we started the evening with soup I thought we'd end it with a light one, too. Agar-agar and nata de coco in icy rose-scented sweetened milk.

We just got through with the dishes and cleaning up, so I've off to bed and a foot massage that someone promised me just a few minutes ago!

[jw46]

Wow, what a meal.!

A friend of mine, in Jakarta, says it's hard for her not to gain weight during Ramadan. Now I see why!

[gingerly]

very light sweet mung bean soup.  The soup has vanilla in it and has my house smelling so good!

aarrgh!spaghetttti,i'll be paddling my way to indonesia at this rate!everything looks terrific and it's lovely to get a glimpse of the ceremony around the feasting.please post a recipe for that soup-it's stuck in my head now

[bague25]

Spaghetttti

Thanks for sharing this with us...

Those date-puff pastries seem yum. I can imagine the good butter flavour with the sweetness of the dates.

Edited October 25, 2004 by bague25 (log)

[Episure]

Spaghetttti,

Thanks for the delicious pictures.

I love aebleskivers and often top them with orange marmalade. How did you make the mamontos and what's the size?

[Pumpkin Lover]

spaghetttti, WOW! That looks amazing!!

Can you post your recipe for soto ambon? I'm finally ready to use a mortar and pestle that my auntie in Malaysia sent me; this looks like a recipe that might utilize it.

[Carrot Top]

The roti korma looked outrageously good, spagetttti...as did all else following!

Are there a traditional number of dishes served during these celebrations...and do any of them have specific 'meanings'? (I know there is a better word for that but am rather dull-worded today... )

Oh, by the way, I think I have figured it out.

The four t's....

t is for tempting

t is for tastes

t is for tremendously interesting, and

t is for terrific.

Now why would you have to kill someone for finding that out?

I think everyone will agree with me about these four t's.

[spaghetttti]

Thank you so much, you all are too kind. I apologize for such a late response. Fasting in the States, on a very cold, blustery day today, after jet lag, I think I'm just about catching up.

For today's small ifthar I made curry puffs. I just pulled these out of the oven and they smell so good....still another hour until sunset.

There are some recipes that I owe y'all, I'll post them as soon as I can, your kind patience is very much appreciated.

The major ifthar or dinner is a family effort, Mom and Dad are cooking in the kitchen as I type. Photos to follow. Stay tuned.

[spaghetttti]

This afternoon my father and I went to our local supermarket (Safeway - Alexandria, Virginia) where he saw a nice piece of lamb. So, he built tonight's menu around a lamb curry using spices that he'd bought and brought with him from a trip to Malaysia. Cruising the produce section, Dad thought the baby spinach looked nice and fresh so we got that along with some iceburg (crunch!) lettuce and a handful of lovely beansprouts.

When we got home, my mother got to the lamb straight away and the masala spices perfumed my sister's house quite nicely. In the meantime in another skillet, she had some garlic & shallots going, added a little ground beef and tossed that around before adding the spinach.

We had a salad of the lettuce, tomatoes and beansprouts which was really good to cool the heat of the lamb.

I got so crazy over the Tater Tot thread, some jumped onto my plate as well!

I kept munching on them, dipping into some sambal that my father made.

It wasn't a particularly spectacular dinner, but what made it a very special one was watching my parents cooking together in perfect harmony. Just thinking about today, looking over the photos, sitting down with them to break the fast, it just chokes me up, I'm having trouble breathing.

[Episure]

Spaghetttti,

Congratulations on the move to USA.

It's 6 am here and looking at your pictures, I can hear (g)rumblings from my stomach.

More than the food, I can see one happy family.

[scott123]

It wasn't a particularly spectacular dinner, but what made it a very special one was watching my parents  cooking together in perfect harmony. Just thinking about today, looking over the photos,  sitting down with them to break the fast, it just chokes me up, I'm having trouble breathing.

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Married... Cooking together... Perfect Harmony?!?!

That is not a common occurance for the couples I know, that's for sure. Sure, everything looks good on the outside, but on the inside - utter turmoil.

Here's some sample inner dialogue:

*gritting teeth* "Grrrrrr... she's cutting the onions wrong"

*glancing furtively over the shoulder* "Oh my word, he's cooking the meat too much- Cooking the MEAT too much!"

[spaghetttti]

Grrr.....Shrinking Shallot Shriek!!!

Arrgghh....Mushy Meat Maim!!!

No wait, that's another thread ! or the other one!

Edited November 6, 2004 by spaghetttti (log)

[mona]

Thank you so much, you all are too kind.  I apologize for such a late response.  Fasting in the States, on a very cold, blustery day today, after jet lag, I think I'm just about catching up. 

For today's small ifthar I made curry puffs.  I just pulled these out of the oven and they smell so good....still another hour until sunset.    

There are some recipes that I owe y'all, I'll post them as soon as I can, your kind patience is very much appreciated. 

The major ifthar or dinner is a family effort, Mom and Dad are cooking in the kitchen as I type.  Photos to follow.  Stay tuned.

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Hey there Spaghettti! I was just wondering what you used as inti for those spectacular curry puffs! Are they the usual potato filling, cause it sure don't look like it

[spaghetttti]

Hi Mona, yeah the filling was your basic ground beef, mashed potato & green peas, emphasis on the ground beef, though. I just incorporated a little of the mash to loosely bind, that's all! They did puff up rather nicely, ya?

What do you like to use for your inti?

[mona]

Hi Mona, yeah the filling was your basic ground beef, mashed potato & green peas, emphasis on the ground beef, though.  I just incorporated a little of the mash to loosely bind, that's all!  They did puff up rather nicely, ya?

What do you like to use for your inti?

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Usually use beef and potatoes cut up into cubes, with some kicap (fine a lot of kicap) for flavour and colour. Sometimes we just eat the filling with hot white rice. Awesome!

[anil]

yetty - All those photos make me soo hungry that I have to go eat leftovers in the refrigerator

[spaghetttti]

Anil, I'll bet those are some very tasty leftovers! !

[Dejah]

Hey Yetti!

Great pictures! I don't think my Saudi student is enjoying those kinds of foods for Ramadan.

Seeing your curry puffs got me thinking I need to make some for lunch tomorrow. Ben Hong of Chinese cuisine forum is upland bird hunting here in our area. We were talking about you tonight! Were your ears burning?

[spaghetttti]

My most lovely Sue-On,

No burning ears, but my nose has been twitching a lot!

It's been kinda cooooold (for me at least) here in the DC area, I've been thinking of making a nice soup to break the fast. I'm looking to you for suggestions, you always have the greatest ideas. I wish I could send something tasty to your student, good Ramadhan greetings, though! Do not despair, there are only 7 more days til Eid al-Fitr (Hari Raya Idul Fitri), which marks the end of the fasting period and celebrated with special foods.

My best regards to Ben -- Happy hunting! Got game on the menu?!