Breaking the Fast at Galaxy

It's not the moon, it's the Space Port!

The Ramadan season has begun and the Muslim people has started their daily fasting activity. Numerous food vendors on the side of the road, chanting "Fresh juice!" and "Get your food for your breaking-fast!", is a common scenery. It's a good thing a nearby housing complex, named Galaxy, provides such environment. My Mom knows how I fancy this kind of stuff, despite the fact that I tend to get all flustered when I'm surrounded with people in a hectic place during a chaotic situation, so she took me for a walk to the housing complex. 

It was around five in the evening when we arrived at Galaxy housing complex. The side of the road was decorated with countless food vendors. There were some that sell drinks, yet there were also some that sell food and snacks. The place was jam-packed with people and delicious delicacies. Only a few minutes left before the second break-fasting of the year, people started to get fired up and advertised their products aggressively. 

Deep-fried food to your liking

Thirst-quenching drinks to begin your break-fasting

Trays of traditional snacks that contained cakes and deep-fried food

Grab yourself some cooked-in-a-cauldron Gudeg

A wide selection of home-food for those who longs for their Mom's dishes

Madun is buying himself a glass of fresh fruit soup

Queueing customers at a Fruit Soup booth

I don't know what those are, but they sure look tasty

I spotted a tray of Rendang 

Look, more home-food!

Some chocolate puddings and cupcakes for the sweet-toothed

Some High School fellows who opened their food stall at Galaxy

This is the most attractive and appealing food stall I encountered at Galaxy

I'm gonna buy his dish when I get the chance to go back to Galaxy

When selling food became too mainstream, the seller decided to sell shoes instead 

To open a food booth has become too mainstream, so that's why the seller
used his motorcycle to display his pastel-colored beverages

My Mom and I decided to rest our bottoms at a place named Warung Tenda, which is where some food vendors set up their carts and chairs are available for those who would love to dine in. 

Welcome to Plaza Galaxy's Culinary Adventure

One of the booth at Warung Tenda

A definite must-try: Roti Cane with Kari Ayam

Seafood was also available at Warung Tenda

Ayam Presto are a kind of chicken-related dish where we can actually eat the bones

It was pretty early to have dinner, so we decided to buy ourselves some Kue Putu. Kue Putu, you see, is one of Indonesia's traditional food. This particular cylinder-shaped steamed cake is made from a mixture of rice flour and shredded coconut.

A traditional snack originated from Medan, Sumatra Utara: Kue Putu

Kue Putu is made using bamboo-based shapers

The sight of the Kue Putu booth

Some palm sugar as fillings

Some Klepon for a customer

First, the cook will take a few cylinder-shaped bamboos, how many bamboo-based shaper that will be used depends on the customer's order, and fill it half full with the Kue Putu mixture. Next, he will fill a bit of the inner part with some palm sugar, then he will top up the remaining space in the bamboo with some more mixture. He then proceed to bake the compound by using steam. In about ten minutes or so, when the entire mixture in the bamboo are clumped together, the cook will shove the traditional cake out from the bamboo with a wooden stick. And there you have it, fresh Kue Putu ready to be indulged.

A mixture of rice flour and shredded coconut for the base of the Kue Putu

The process of inserting the palm sugar to the Kue Putu base

Kue Putu are cooked with steam

Can you spot the steam?

The Kue Putu seller, shoving the traditional snack out from the bamboo-based shaper

A portion of Kue Putu, fresh from the steamer

Add some shredded coconuts on top for the finishing touch

Some sate, or meat in a skewer, to your liking

A bunch of Chicken Sate ready to be grilled

The chip vendor, scooping a spoonful of tofu chips

Some Martabak, perhaps?

Various choices of deep-fried doughs

Sugar-glazed donuts is available at this particular food booth

After we bought some Kue Putu, we continued our journey around Galaxy. It was five minutes to break the fast, and the food sellers got more aggressive. Lots of "Aunty, come and buy our fresh and cold drinks!" and "Cupcakes on sale, buy one get two!" roamed along the side of the road. Suddenly my Mom said, "Es Podeng! Es Podeng!" pointing her finger to a yellow cart in front of us. She knows how much I love Es Podeng, so we decided to approach the ice cream man and bought a glass. 

Es Podeng is one example of Indonesian traditional ice cream. The main ingredients of Es Podeng are pink jelly, cut bread, black sticky rice, and ice cream. Sometimes, depending on the ice cream man, Es Podeng is served with some slice of avocado, chocolate sprinkles, roasted nuts, and canned milk. I love this traditional ice cream the best, especially if the seller give a generous amount of black sticky rice and roasted nuts.

Es Podeng, one of my favorite traditional dessert

The ice cream man is generously sprinkling chocolate sprinkles
 and nuts on top of the Es Podeng 

Es Podeng consisted of pink jelly, black sticky rice, and bread

Not far from the Es Podeng vendor was a Bubur Jagung booth. I'm not sure if it was a booth or not, because the seller sold his corn porridge with a motorcycle. My mom and I have not tried Bubur Jagung before, so we decided to buy a glass just for the sake of getting familiar with the taste.

My first encounter with Bubur Jagun, or Corn Porridge

Scooping those porridge like a boss

Finally, it was time to break the fast. My Mom and I don't fast because we're Christian, but we decided to join the crowd by pretending that we were. We bought a glass of Juice Kedondong and sip the entire drink alongside with the other Muslim people. I have never tried Juice Kedondong before, so I was a bit excited to drink the juice. It turned out that the juice was sour, yet sweet, and very refreshing. Kedondong, or Golden Apple, or Ambarella, is one tricky fruit. The fruit itself is sweet and juicy, yet it has a thorn-like pit. If you bite the wrong side of the fruit, you might get stung by the thorn. It's not that painful though, but it sure is disturbing.

I have never drink a glass of Juice Kedondong until today

It was getting dark and the food vendors started to pack things up to go home. My Mom and I decided to went home too now that we got ourselves some food for dinner. I'm planning on going back to Galaxy housing complex before the Ramadan season ends. Anybody care to join me?

From left to right: Es Podeng, Kue Putu, and Bubur Jagung

Es Podeng

Very milky and sweet. Somewhat share the same texture with Milkshake when the ice cream melts. Make sure you ask the ice cream man to give you a generous amount of roasted nuts, because it's the best part of the ice cream. 

Bubur Jagung

It tasted funny and a bit weird, but it was tasty. Bubur Jagung, or Corn Porridge, is somewhat similar to Mungbean Porridge and Black Sticky Rice Porridge - only, this time, it was corn. The soup itself was sweet and it tasted like corn. If the porridge man add some more boiled corn to the porridge, I'll give this dish a two thumbs up. 

Kue Putu

This particular Kue Putu that I bought at a booth at Warung Tenda was very light and delicious. I was expecting a clumpy and rocky texture, but this one would just disperse into fragments in your mouth. The palm sugar was not too sweet and not sickening either. Very delicious, balanced flavor, well-cooked, this Kue Putu deserves a two-thumbs up. 

Taman Galaxy (Galaxy Housing Complex)

Taman Galaxy Raya, Bekasi 17412