Ramadhan menu: Indian porridge is served to break the fast at Pekojan Mosque in Semarang, Central Java, on Saturday evening.

Among many Ramadhan dishes, the “Indian porridge” served at Pekojan Grand Mosque in Semarang, Central Java, for the whole fasting month represents a special and unique tradition for locals to taste the legendary dish rich with flavor and history.

Endang, a mother of two who lives in Ungaran, some 15 kilometers south of Semarang, waited patiently for one and a half hours to get two bowls of the famous Indian porridge. She queued along with dozens of other people near a big cauldron at the mosque, which is one of the oldest in the city.

“I always come here in every Ramadhan to get this Indian porridge. It recalls a beautiful memory every time I break the fast with this food,” she said over the weekend.

Inside the mosque for iftar, 200 bowls of the porridge are served, each accompanied by a cup of coffee mixed with milk, four dates and a slice of watermelon. Just minutes before the time came to break the fast, hundreds of Muslims entered the mosque to enjoy the special dish served only during Ramadhan.

“This place is famous for the Indian porridge and a special tambourine that is found nowhere else,” said Mangir Anggoro Titiantoro who studies history at Diponegoro University and has been conducting research on the Pekojan area along with eight colleagues.

The porridge has also been popular outside Pekojan, attracting many travelers to the area every fasting month. The special dish reportedly was first created when the mosque was built in 1878 on a plot of land granted by an Indian trader named Khalifah Natar Sab. At first, it was just a small place of worship, but it was then expanded into a big mosque by various people, including some named Muhammad Ali, Muhammad Asyari Akhwan, Muhammad Yakub, Alhadi Ahmad, Muhammad Nur and Yakub. The mosque was renovated from 1975 to 1980.

Local people call the food “Bubur India” as it was first created by a descendent of the Gujarat people who moved to Indonesia hundreds of years ago and stayed in Semarang. Gujarati traders were known to have introduced Islam to Indonesia in the 13th century.

The name Pekojan came from the word khwaja, which means a teacher, a respected person and a rich person. The word khwaja turned into khoja or koja and then the Javanese community in the area called it Pekojan. Koja was also the name of a city on the India-Pakistan border from which many traders and Islamic missionaries came to Semarang and lived in the Pekojan area.

Given that many people from different places come to the Pekojan mosque, the area has become a sort of melting pot in Semarang.

The porridge has a signature taste from a mix of various flavors and spices consisting of ginger, galangal, lemongrass, bay leaves, cinnamon, carrots, onion and garlic, with a scent of pandan leaves, as well as various vegetables.

The one who cooks this porridge is Ahmad Ali, who inherited the expertise from the older generations. Mat Shoim was the cook before him, assisted by Ngatiman. Mat Shoim was a fruit seller from Demak who settled at the mosque and became the caretaker. He cooked the porridge in the mosque for 27 years. When Ngatiman died, Ahmad Ali replaced him to help Mat Shoim and now he has replaced Mat Shoim.

“I usually use 20 kilograms of rice and 20 pieces of coconut. I used to cook with firewood, but now [I cook] with the gas stove,” Ahmad said.

Anas Salim Bahrun, a senior Muslim figure in Pekojan, said that all the ingredients to cook the porridge were donated by locals and some business people.

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