Tinna Eka Yanita, 25, who used to steer clear of the kitchen, is making the most of Ramadan as a time to familiarize herself with predawn cooking, albeit only for simple dishes.
This year is Tinna’s first Ramadan away from her family’s house in Bandung, West Java, which means she no longer has the luxury of home-cooked food, unless she makes it herself.
The young architect moved to a boarding house, known locally as a kost, in Cideng, Central Jakarta, to be closer to her new office.
“Before the fasting month I packed my refrigerator with frozen food, including chicken nuggets, sausages and pre-seasoned frozen chicken breasts,” she said.
Every day during Ramadan Tinna gets up before 3 a.m. for sahur, the Muslim pre-dawn meal ritual, otherwise, she would not get time to use the stove that is shared between four tenants and the kost keeper.
“Each of us takes our turn to use the two-burner stove to cook our own meals,” she told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
“Among us are two middle-aged men, who had never cooked before. They buy rice in the evening and fry it in the morning,” she said.
Tinna said there were many food vendors in the area who opened especially for sahur. However, Tinna said she was not interested in buying meals for sahur.
“My fridge is full and it can feed the whole village,” she said, laughing.
Unlike Tinna, Trisakti University student Setyo Galih, 19, preferred the “hassle-free” delivery service.
“There are at least five food vendors who offer delivery for sahur in my area,” said Setyo, who also used these services last year, after moving from Serang, Banten, to his boarding house in Tanjung Gedong, West Jakarta.
“I choose to use delivery services because it’s simple and my kost is a long way away from food stalls or restaurants. There is only one vendor selling instant noodles near my boarding house,” he said.
However, he said he needed to get up very early for this.
“I have to wake up by 3 a.m. each day to get my meal on time before imsak [the time when Muslims have to stop eating, at around 4:30 a.m.],” he said. On a busy day, when many people ordered food, it could take up to 45 minutes for his meal to reach him, he said.
Satrio Widiasmoro, 26, had found another way to get a decent sahur to give him enough energy to last for the next 14 hours.
“I didn’t know where or how to get meals for sahur so I asked the helper at my kost if she could provide meals for me,” said Satrio, who lives in Patal Senayan, Central Jakarta.
“She agreed to cook for me after I begged her, saying I would pay her to cook meals,” he said, adding that he had only moved into the kost this year.
“She is also my alarm; she wakes me up, knocking my door to deliver the food,” he said.
He added that he had learned from his mistakes on the first day of Ramadan.
“I’d already bought food for sahur, but I overslept and no one woke me up,” he said. (ipa)
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