For this event , I have tried to find bloggers and foodies on various platform of social media.  One such blogger was Ridha  from  Indonesia whom I came across on Instagram. Her blog Ridha’s Kitchen is collection of Indonesian cuisine. She is living in Sweden but have beautiful memories of Ramadan back home in Indonesia. 

Assalamualaikum, Hi. My name is Ridha. I was born and grew up in Indonesia (Borneo to be specific) but now live in Sweden with my husband and 2 beautiful daughters. First I want to thank Huma for inviting me to join this Ramadan event. I’m honoured.

Before we go to the recipe I want to share a little bit about how we celebrate ramadan and Eid in Indonesia.

When Ramadan is nearing you’d be able to see a lot of small kiosk that build suddenly just for ramadan in some empty spots / filed / parking lot. The purpose is for people selling snacks, food and drink for breakfasting / iftar. They will start selling from around ashr time. And people will start crowding the kiosks an hour or 30 minutes before maghrib.

My family don’t really buy from those kiosks that often, simply because most of the time the foods don’t taste that nice 😛 I mean, how can you sure the foods taste nice when you’re fasting right? So we just make something simple instead.

Other “tradition” that often happen during this month is so many invitation to breakfasting gathering thingy. Means that you decide a place (often cafe or big restaurant) with your old friends or family and have iftar together. My family is big, so we also do this at least once during this time, but instead of cafe or restaurant, we always have it in a our family members’ house. So we can pray and everything after iftar (you won’t be able to that in a cafe).

Now we move to Eid, starting from a week before Eid, most households will be busy baking cookies and preparing foods for Eid. Why a week before? Because a lot of people will visit us and we have to visit many people too. Most of families will have the first day of Eid just for family and relatives. And then the second day for close friends. And after that just friends or coworkers. See the reason we have to start preparing from a week before 😀 And we also often give money as presents for kids.

As I’m writing this, I really miss celebrating Ramadan and Eid with my big family back in Indonesia. Since muslims in minority in Sweden, I do things a bit differently. But still try to have cookies and special menu for Eid (even though no one really visiting me :D). Usually I just have small celebration with my Indonesian friends. And I give proper presents for my daughters, not just money.

Now we can start talking about the recipe. The one I’m sharing today is often made by my uncle’s wife, my aunty, she’s like my second mother. She took care of me when I was little when both of parents working.

I hope you can find all the spices I’m using here so you can also try making this.

Coto Makassar

Ingredients:

• 1kg Beef (I use chuck steak), cubed
• 300g peanuts, deep fried.
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp tamarind paste
• 3 tbsp oil

For the spice paste:

• 2 medium size banana shallot
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 cm ginger (optional)
• 5 stalks lemon grass (sliced thinly)
• 1 tsp galangal powder
• 1/2 nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp cardamom
• 1/2 tsp white pepper
• salt

Condiments / to eat with:

• prawn crackers
• rice cake
• chili sauce
• lime juice
• fried onion
• spring onion

How to:

1. Boil the beef cubes with 2 liter water until almost tender.
2. Meanwhile, put all the ingredients for the paste and 300g fried peanuts into a blender or food processor until smooth.
3. Prepare a pan with 3 tbsp oil to stir fry the paste until fragrance.
4. Pour the paste into the beef broth. Cook it in until the beef is tender.
5. Add brown sugar and tamarind paste. Add salt if needed.
6. Serve hot with the condiments I mentioned above.

To know  more about RIdha, connect with her on Blog, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest