A pot of banana and sweet potato kolak | |
Alternative names | Kolek |
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Course | Dessert |
Place of origin | Indonesia |
Region or state | Southeast Asia |
Created by | Indonesians |
Main ingredients | Palm sugar, coconut milk, pandanus leaf |
Variations | Kolak pisang, Kolak pisang ubi, Kolak waluh, Kolak biji salak, Kolak nangka, Kolak ubi, Kolak durian |
Kolak (or kolek) is an Indonesian sweet dessert based on palm sugar or coconut sugar, coconut milk, and pandanus leaf (P. amaryllifolius). [1] A variation in which banana is added, is called kolak pisang or banana kolak. Other variations may add ingredients such as pumpkins, sweet potatoes, jackfruit, plantains, cassava, rice balls, tapioca pearls, and kolang-kaling (aren palm fruit). [2] It is usually served warm or at room temperature, but some prefer it cold.
In Indonesia, kolak is a popular iftar dish, [1] locally known as tajil (sugary snacks and drinks consumed to break the fast) during the holy month of Ramadan, [2] and is also a popular street food.
Kolak is basically a dessert based on a sweet liquid made from the mixture of palm sugar and coconut milk. Blocks of palm sugar are crushed and liquified in boiling water, mixed together with coconut milk and pandanus leaf to add aroma. Additional fillings are added and boiled together in this hot sweet liquid. Popular kolak contents including sliced banana, diced sweet potato, ground sweet potato balls, diced pumpkin, jackfruit, and aren palm fruit locally known as kolang-kaling . [2]
Traditionally kolak served warm right after it was cooked and ready, or at room temperature. However, some variant might add ice cubes as sweet cold dessert according to individual preferences.
These are variants of kolak. Sometimes a combo is presented in a serving, for example kolak pisang that contains slices of banana is often combined with diced sweet potato and kolang-kaling sugar palm fruit. Some recipes might add tapioca pearls.
A fritter is a portion of meat, seafood, fruit, vegetables, or other ingredients which have been battered or breaded, or just a portion of dough without further ingredients, that is deep-fried. Fritters are prepared in both sweet and savory varieties.
Kuih are bite-sized snack or dessert foods commonly found in Southeast Asia and China. It is a fairly broad term which may include items that would be called cakes, cookies, dumplings, pudding, biscuits, or pastries in English and are usually made from rice or glutinous rice. In China, where the term originates from, kueh or koé (粿) in the Min Nan languages refers to snacks which are typically made from rice but can occasionally be made from other grains such as wheat. The term kuih is widely used in Malaysia, Brunei, and Singapore, kueh is used in Singapore and Indonesia, kue is used in Indonesia only, all three refer to sweet or savoury desserts.
Tamil cuisine is a culinary style of Tamil people originating in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu and neighboring Sri Lanka. Meats, along with rice, legumes, and lentils, are also popular. Dairy products and tamarind are used to provide sour flavors. On special occasions, traditional Tamil dishes are served in a traditional manner, using banana leaves in place of utensils. After eating, the banana leaves are then used as a secondary food for cattle. A typical breakfast meal consists of idli or dosa with chutney. Lunch includes rice, sambar, curd, kuzhambu, and rasam.
Cendol is an iced sweet dessert that contains droplets of pandan-flavoured green rice flour jelly, coconut milk and palm sugar syrup. It is commonly found in Southeast Asia and is popular in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, and Myanmar. Next to the green jelly, additional toppings might be added, including diced jackfruit, sweetened red azuki beans, or durian.
Kue is an Indonesian bite-sized snack or dessert food. Kue is a fairly broad term in Indonesian to describe a wide variety of snacks including cakes, cookies, fritters, pies, scones, and patisserie. Kue are made from a variety of ingredients in various forms; some are steamed, fried or baked. They are popular snacks in Indonesia, which has the largest variety of kue. Because of the countries' historical colonial ties, Koeé (kue) is also popular in the Netherlands.
A banana fritter is a fritter made by deep frying battered banana or plantain in hot oil. It is a common dish across Southeast Asia and South India.
Chè is any traditional Vietnamese sweet beverage, dessert soup or stew, or pudding. Chè includes a wide variety of distinct soups or puddings. Varieties of Chè can be made with mung beans, black-eyed peas, kidney beans, tapioca, jelly, fruit, and coconut cream. Other types are made with ingredients such as salt, aloe vera, seaweed, lotus seed, sesame seed, sugar palm seeds, taro, cassava and pandan leaf extract. Some varieties, such as chè trôi nước, may also include dumplings. Chè are often prepared with one of a number of varieties of beans, tubers, and/or glutinous rice, cooked in water and sweetened with sugar. In southern Vietnam, chè are often garnished with coconut creme.
Javanese cuisine is the cuisine of Javanese people, a major ethnic group in Indonesia, more precisely the province of Central Java, Yogyakarta and East Java.
Binignit is a Visayan dessert soup from the central Philippines. The dish is traditionally made with glutinous rice cooked in coconut milk with various slices of sabá bananas, taro, ube, and sweet potato, among other ingredients. It is comparable to various dessert guinataán dishes found in other regions such as bilo-bilo. Among the Visayan people, the dish is traditionally served during Good Friday of Holy Week.
A great variety of cassava-based dishes are consumed in the regions where cassava is cultivated, and the ingredient is included many national or ethnic specialities.
Sundanese cuisine is the cuisine of the Sundanese people of Western Java, and Banten, Indonesia. It is one of the most popular foods in Indonesia. Sundanese food is characterised by its freshness; the famous lalab eaten with sambal and also karedok demonstrate the Sundanese fondness for fresh raw vegetables. Unlike the rich and spicy taste, infused with coconut milk and curry of Minangkabau cuisine, the Sundanese cuisine displays the simple and clear taste; ranged from savoury salty, fresh sourness, mild sweetness, to hot and spicy.
Es campur is an Indonesian cold and sweet dessert concoction of fruit cocktails, coconut, tapioca pearls, grass jellies, etc. served in shaved ice, syrup and condensed milk.
Es buah is an Indonesian iced fruit cocktail dessert. This cold and sweet beverage is made of diced fruits, such as honeydew, cantaloupe, pineapple, papaya, squash, jackfruit and kolang kaling, mixed with shaved ice or ice cubes, and sweetened with liquid sugar or syrup. The type of fruit used in this dessert may vary, some might add any available fruits such as mango, watermelon or longan — some imported fruits — such as lychee, kiwi, strawberry, pear, peach or grapes. Other ingredients might be added too, such as agar-agar jelly, grass jelly, seaweed or nata de coco.
Dodol is a sweet toffee-like sugar palm-based confection commonly found in Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Originating from the culinary traditions of Indonesia, it is also popular in Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, the Philippines, Southern India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Burma, where it is called mont kalama. It is made from coconut milk, jaggery, and rice flour, and is sticky, thick, and sweet.
Pinaltok or Bilo-bilo is a Filipino dessert made of small glutinous balls in coconut milk and sugar. Then jackfruit, saba bananas, sweet potatoes, taro, and tapioca pearls or sago are added. Bilo-bilo's origin is in Luzon, which is the northern Philippines Island. There are different recipe versions depending on what region in the Philippines it is from. Some recipes call for young coconut meat and some call for adding pandan leaves. This is usually and traditionally eaten hot while others prefer eating them cold after refrigeration.
Coconut soup is a fruit soup prepared using coconut milk or coconut fruit as a main ingredient. Many varieties of coconut soups exist in the world, including ginataan, laksa, sayur lodeh, soto, and tom kha kai, and myriad ingredients are used. They can be served hot or cold. While most coconut soups are savoury dishes, some varieties—such as binignit and kolak—are sweet dessert soups.
Makassarese cuisine is the cuisine of Makassarese people of Makassar in the South Sulawesi province of Indonesia.
Indian Indonesian cuisine is characterized by the mixture of Indian cuisine with local Indonesian-style. This cuisine consists of adaptations of authentic dishes from India, as well as original creations inspired by the diverse food culture of Indonesia. Indian influence can be observed in Indonesia as early as the 4th century. Following the spread of Islam to Indonesia and trading, Muslim Indian as well as Arab influences made their way into Indonesian cuisine. Examples include Indian biryani, murtabak, curry and paratha that influenced Acehnese, Minangkabau, Malay, Palembangese, Betawi and Javanese cuisine.