Eid al-Fitr in the Pandemic
A glimpse about how we celebrated the most prominent Muslim holiday in Indonesia, during the Covid-19 era (with all the dishes and cookies).
In Indonesia — a country with the biggest Muslim population in the world — we have the tradition of mudik — celebrating Eid al-Fitr after a whole month of fasting, by returning to our hometowns to visit our parents. On the big day, the entire family go together to the nearest open field where the Eid prayer is held.
When we return to our houses after the prayer, the feast begins and Opor¹ — the special dish for the big day is served. Opor is a thick soup made from chicken braised in coconut milk, herbs and spices — including turmeric to give the dish a yellowish colour. We eat it with Ketupat²; rice cake steamed in coconut leaves woven into a diamond shape. We also have Sambal Goreng³; a spicy dish made from potato cubes with chicken liver, and Rendang⁴; typically made from beef — slow-cooked in coconut milk for several hours.
Since all family members, including their children, are present, there is never enough space at the dining table for everyone. Hence, we cover the floor with tikar pandan — a traditional mat made from dried pandan leaves, or just whatever rug we have — and feast, sans chairs & table.
During Eid al-Fitr, houses are packed with boxes of parcels; or nowadays as we call them, hampers — gifts from colleagues, relatives, and our bosses. Most of them are filled with dry cookies in pretty containers — nastar⁵ (pineapple cookies) and kaastengels⁶ are the most popular among them.
These rituals have been embedded in Muslim-Indonesian culture for decades, and we look forward to them every year. In big cities like Jakarta, the streets are empty for at least three days as people return to their parent’s homes in smaller towns and villages.
But this year Eid al-Fitr was during the pandemic and things were very different. Everyone was stuck in the cities where they work. Everyone stayed home. Virtually no one did mudik this year.
The team at Cookpad Indonesia were curious about the impact of the pandemic in the context of cooking and gift-giving during Eid al-Fitr. So, we decided to survey some of our users to gain a better understanding. More than 400 people answered *).
Behaviour shift: Eid cookies and dishes
The survey told us that there was a significant increase in home baking activity for Eid cookies which resulted in fewer people buying the cookies from cookie sellers or bakeries.
And when we asked what kind of cookies they made this Eid, unsurprisingly — nastar and kaasstengels were still the favourites. Number 3 was putri salju⁷; the literal translation is “snow princesses” cookies.
While baking cookies is an activity that is usually done a week before Eid al-Fitr or before everyone returns to their hometowns, we also noticed a behaviour shift in cooking the special dishes on the big day itself.
The cooking of ‘special dishes’ for Eid is usually done collectively in large batches when big families are gathered together. However, as families were unable to convene this year, the result was an increase in cooking activities on this special occasion.
And the good news is — it seems that people were more adventurous and tried out some new dishes this Eid as 70% of people answered YES when asked: “Did you cook something new this Eid?”
We’ve compiled a list of curated recipes of the dishes in the article above. The recipes themselves are in Indonesian, but you’re welcome to use Google Translate or learn the Indonesian language. 😘
- Opor Ayam
Savoury dishes made from chicken braised in coconut milk. Originally from Central Java, before it was widely known as the Lebaran (Eid) special dish paired with Ketupat. Recipe here. - Ketupat
Steamed rice in woven palm/coconut leaves in a diamond shape. The history of the dish is similar to sushi in Japan — this style of rice preparation came from the seafarers who needed to keep cooked rice from spoiling during long sea voyages. This was long before it was associated with Eid. Recipe here. - Sambal Goreng Ati
The word “sambal” can be loosely translated as “chilli sauce” — a spicy condiment that accompanies almost every kind of Indonesian dish, made from various mixtures of chilli and spices. This particular sambal features chicken liver and gizzard — plus diced potatoes. Recipe here. - Rendang
Voted as one of the #1 dishes in the world food realm by CNN — rendang is originally from Minangkabau; West Sumatra, Indonesia. Made by slowly braising beef with coconut milk and spices until almost all the liquid has evaporated and it has caramelised to dark brown. It should be on everyone’s “try before you die” list. Recipe here. - Nastar
It’s an abbreviation of “nanas tart” — or pineapple tart; influenced by Dutch cuisine a few centuries back. They are sphere shaped with pineapple jam inside, and sometimes the bakers top them with a single clove as a handle (don’t eat the clove, please). Recipe here. - Kaasstengels
Also Dutch influenced. Kaasstengels itself is a Dutch phrase which means “cheese stick”. In the Indonesian version, the “stick” is sometimes as short as 2 centimetres (that’s less than an inch, dear fellow Americans). Recipe here. - Putri Salju
There’s no reliable source citing where exactly where this crescent-shaped-sugar-sprinkled cookie came from. The literal translation is “Snow Princess” — and it’s also popular in Germany and Austria with a different name: Vanillekipferl. Recipe here.
*) We must highlight that our users are mostly home cooking enthusiasts, so the survey results may not represent the whole population in Indonesia. We conducted the survey in late May/early June 2020.
