For Ramadhan

 

Actually it's already halfway through, the month of Ramadhan, in which Muslims around the world fast. This year the first of Ramadhan fell on 1st August, so... haha.. more than halfway through actually.

Maybe because I do not practice fasting. I am not a Muslim, is one reason. I tried before, out of spirit of tolerance to Mr. G. Uhmm... let's just say I barely last a few, very cranky days, after which I never bother trying anymore.

All fasting Muslims out there have my utmost respect for being able to follow through with such rigorous practice. Nowadays, I use my occasional bout of gastric problem as an excuse to escape.

Still, as an Indonesian, memories of Ramadhan is always a vivid memory, between the plethora of Ramadhan themed dramas on TV, to the rising prices of certain food items, to some delicious delicacies (especially of the sweet kind! Yum!) traditionally prepared for the breaking of fast, the beat of the beduk signaling the time to break fast, the ululating prayer immediately following, right to the sleepless eve of Eid ul-Fitr (or Idul Fitri as the Indonesian version goes) with its non-stop beduk and prayer chants all night long.

There are definitely more rambling about Idul Fitri itself as one of the most important holiday in Indonesia affecting most people in Indonesia in various ways, but maybe I should keep that to a different post and focus on today's topic.

As I said before, I am no foodie, but I can't resist to share just this simple desert I love, something quite traditional, not just for the month of Ramadhan, but also commonly had for normal desert. 

Start with a bit of pandan (screwpine) leaves, tied together for easy removal,

Chop some coconut sugar (so that it will dissolve easily)

Cut up some bananas, I used the not so sweet variety, to balance the sugar

Mix together in a soup of coconut milk, diluted with some water...

Add whatever additional ingredients you like (jackfruit, sweet potato, yam, pine nuts)

And voila! You have:

Kolak Pisang,

a delicious dessert, tea time snack, whatever you like it to be

You can have it hot, or you can have it cold

Have it as you like it

Oh well..that wasn't much of a recipe. I told you I'm no foodie.

Let's see if I can translate this one from Resep Keluarga Nugraha (plus some tinkering of my own):

Ingredients:

6 pieces of medium sized banana, sliced 1 cm thick (I prefer not so sweet)

250 gr of pine nuts, boiled till softened (or you can use the canned one in syrup)

8 tbs coconut sugar, chopped

2 tbs granulated sugar

1 tsp salt

500 ml coconut milk

2 leaves of screw pine (pandan)

(optional) 3 pieces of jackfruit, cubed

Directions:

1. Boil the coconut milk, sugars, salt and screw pine leaves to a simmer

2. Add the banana, jackfruit and the pine nuts, occasionally stirring to prevent separation of the coconut milk

3. Boil gently till softened (bananas would slightly change color)

4. Serve!

So simple! I love that I can find all the ingredients locally here in Philippines as they use roughly about the same ingredients for their food, except for the spices. Indonesians love to put WAY more spices in their food.

Anyway, I hope you can enjoy one of my favorite dessert. Have fun!