Traditional fare on offer at mosque

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan, North Sumatra

Hundreds of people are sitting cross-legged under a tent in the grounds of the Medan Great Mosque, waiting patiently for the time to break their daily fast during the fasting month of Ramadhan. When the huge drum is struck -- signaling the time to break the fast and begin Maghrib (early evening) prayers -- they express gratitude to God.

Each of the people then savor the special dishes prepared by the mosque management for travelers, including those from outside Medan. What makes this tradition famous is the food, including soup porridge, anyang (vegetables with scraped coconut) and dates.

"I don't know this food, but I'll certainly give it a try and I think it should be delicious," said Adam, a 27-year-old Englishman who converted to Islam about three months ago. After relishing the special soup porridge, Adam - having stayed in Medan for four months - said it was enjoyable. "It's really unique and unexpected," he said with a smile.

Muhammad Hamdan, chief cook at the mosque for the past 10 years, said consuming soup porridge and anyang for breaking the fast was a tradition inherited in 1906 from the Sultan Mahmud Ar Rasyid, the ninth sultan of Deli.

"To preserve this tradition, we have deliberately not made any changes to the menu," he said.

The tradition began when the sultan built the mosque. The meal, which had been cooked by the sultanate palace chefs, was always served for travelers. After 30 years members of the mosque management together with people living nearby had begun preparing the porridge.

"This tradition has been going on for five generations until now during the times of the 13th Sultan of Deli," Hamdan said.

He said that he had no idea of the medical benefits of the dish but breaking the fast with soft foods would aid the digestion. He always felt full afterwards.

"I don't feel like eating for the rest of the night after having the porridge."

Ingredients in the soup porridge include 15 kilograms of rice, five kilograms of meat, 10 kilograms of carrots and potatoes, salt, fried shallots, leeks and pepper, cinnamon and other spices.

Anyang is made of various vegetables including bean sprouts, pakis (local edible fern) leaves, peas and so forth. The soup porridge and anyang are prepared separately: the first is done by the mosque management and the latter by people nearly who get paid to cook it.

The management spends Rp 620,000 (US$59) per day preparing the soup porridge and Rp 80,000 to make anyang.

"So far the entire funding has been provided by donors, including the family of the Sultan of Deli," Hamdan said.

The soup porridge is cooked in a large pot. For the first 45 minutes the meat is cooked until it is tender and then rice is added. After about 30 minutes the remaining ingredients follow. "The whole process takes about two hours," he said.

While anyang is similar to the Javanese version of urap, the difference is that the scraped coconut is not wet, but dry. Anyang is later served as the soup porridge topping.

During Ramadhan, hundreds of mainly local people who are fond of the food, flock to the mosque even before the preparations take place. The cooking process itself begins at 2 p.m.

Before Ashar (afternoon) praying, the soup porridge is distributed as takeaways. The number of people getting takeaways could reach 70. They only get the porridge without the anyang topping. Some 200 dishes are prepared for those breaking the fast at the mosque.

Fifty-year-old Erni, who lives next to the mosque, expressed the joy of breaking the fast with soup porridge. "It is much more enjoyable when you take it home and share it with the whole family," she said, with a shy smile. The mother of six admitted she has been taking it home for the past 15 years.

However, the management could only provide the tradition up to the 27th day of Ramadhan. Starting at the 28th, they change the menu with nasi bungkus (rice with meat and vegetables) as they were busy distributing zakat, a religious tax collected from Muslims and distributed to the poor.