a blog by Galuh

a blog by Galuh

Nastar Keranjang

Nastar Keranjang

Bored. One of the hundreds of millions of people who get bored during the pandemic is on this page.

Tidying up the house, decluttering, adding some dry and wet flowers to do accents on the rooms, cooking, dancing, writing, watching Korean drama, boxing. I think I had done what to be done during quarantine at home. But I still get bored.

Maybe, it means that the things I’ve done haven’t ended.

During this pandemic, suddenly some things unfold so does my cooking skill. I cook things that I’ve never cooked before such as peyek, cendol, candil, sponge cake, ketimus, donuts. Cooking peyek is not easy, hellooow…

Cooking is fun but it also makes you tired. Being tired of preparing, tired of cooking, tired of cleaning. You get tired of having your dishes left out, and you will get more tired when you already cook many things but then your family member takes the initiative to order light meals such as martabak or surabi by Gofood.

One thing that makes me happy is that my daughter likes cooking. That’s why I encourage myself to cook so that she can learn a lot from the kitchen. I was so happy when she asked what the difference is between galangal and ginger. One day I will tell her about the history of 350-year VOC colonisation in the East Indies through spices. Hoyaaa!!!

We often take our mom’s cooking for granted as if it was something a mother should do and forget to thank her. Sometimes I am tired and bored with cooking, but I remember again that one of the things I remember most from my mother is her cooking. Actually, I’m not sure I’m good at cooking, but my daughter once thanked me and complimented me. Will she associate cooking with her mom someday? Will she remember me for this activity we do together in the kitchen?

But still, I think I’m just so-so, especially to compare myself to others or my mom when it comes to cooking. I’m not sure my husband also likes what I cook because, yeah, when the food I remember the most is my mom’s, it could be the same with him. When it’s about food, it should be his mom’s cooking.

Speaking of mom’s cooking, we’re already in the month of fasting. People usually get so busy selling, trading, to prepare for the feast day. Eid 2020 will be very different as the pandemic forces us not to make our visits. But I think it’s still okay to prepare one or two jars of cookies at home to sweeten up the bitter atmosphere we have lately. What do you plan to bake at home? Mine is usually nastar (pineapple tart cookie).

My mom rarely allowed us, her children, to lend a hand at her kitchen. It’s uncomfortable, dirty, messy, or disturbing, she said. The point is she wanted to have her own area where she concentrates her mind and the kitchen is her territory. It’s during Eid we would have the opportunity to be busy helping her as she made so many cakes, Mom would run out her energy by handling them alone. One of our mom’s authentic cookie was the nastar made by her.

In food science, there is knowledge about the origin of food shapes. Why does the lemper shape like that? Why is the lupis round or triangular and why is it not square? This was a puzzling joke my mom’s husband made. Once when we were working on our cookies for Eid, Dad suddenly came and asked, “Why are you shaping them so small, after all, they’re still the same cookies when we eat them, and so are they inside our bellies. Why don’t you make the big one so we eat them and get satisfied?” My mother had the answer, but she was not trained to be able to deliver answers effectively.

Mom’s homemade nastar is extremely beautiful, we call it nastar keranjang (basket-shaped nastar), because it shapes like a mini basket. Firstly, make the dough, then put it into basket-shaped cookie moulds, then form it into mini basket straps. Next, make pineapple jam, and form it into round shapes as big as marbles. Over the years nastar that I know shapes like a basket, not round as generally made.

I don’t have any idea how that cake-making talent passed to my sister. Since living in Bandung, she’s been enjoying making desserts, such as cheesecakes, brownies, churros, and every month of Ramadan she gets busy making pastries. Nobody helps her, she cooks everything herself. What a persistence! Praise those who love to cook, their level of patience is no less than that of Jesus who was wounded and tired but still believe that his people would reap the blessings of goodness cultivated along with the time. Yes, making cookies takes so long.

Observing and doing, maybe are the first two-things experienced by people who then focus on cooking. After trying to making desserts, my sister also made her own brand for the desserts she made. It’s named Mariposa’s Desserts. You’re welcome to order the cakes at Mariposa’s Desserts.

 

 

Photos by Anggun Putri

 

 



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