It’s Eid or what we call Hari Raya in this part of the world. And though none of my family members celebrate by making and eating ketupat or rice cakes, we always welcome them if anyone would pass them to us.
And someone did to me! A good Malay friend passed some of the ketupats her family makes together with all the trimmings.
Ketupat is usually served with beef rendang, sambal tumis sotong, sambal goreng or sambal godok. All these are traditional dishes that go so well together with the rice cake but also served a lot on a daily basis too! So I never understood why the longing for these dishes especially on Hari Raya!
Ketupat is made by making the casing first. My late father used to be able to weave them. The casings are made from coconut leaves. After the casing is made, rice is poured halfway into the casing and then boiled for hours and then hung to dry.
My goal is to share because I don’t really know how to weave the casings but there are many videos on YouTube by real Malays to show how it’s done.
Below are pictures of the wonderful food my friend passed to us the night before Hari Raya. Enjoy watching and maybe googling more about how the Malays celebrate Eid! ☺️
The Occasional Cook 