Kolak and Gender Cooperation
Kolak is popular as a sweet traditional dessert of Indonesia. Its main compositions consist of coconut milk (santan kelapa), palm sugar (gula merah), and banana (pisang). However, besides banana it is also possible to add or replace with the other fruits like jackfruit (nangka), salak, kolang-kaling, sweet potato (ubi), cassava (singkong), and taro (talas). It depends on the taste desired. As an Indonesian, this dessert is always in my heart because in my family, to make this dessert needs cooperation among all members of the family such as my father, my mother, my two siblings: younger brother and younger sister, and myself.
My father usually climbs the coconut tree to pick the coconut fruit. Then, my younger brother will bring it to my mother when the coconut fruit has landed from the tree. The good coconut fruit that can produce coconut milk to make kolak is from old coconut fruit. This old fruit has harder shell compared to the younger one. Thus, my father is the one who opens the shell by cracking it with traditional tool known as parang (chopper). It is bigger than regular knife.
Afterward, my mom will clean the soft shell under the hard shell has been cracked. Next, my little sister starts grating the coconut on traditional tool known as parutan (grater). This job needs hard work compared by using mechanical grater available in traditional market in Indonesia. Right after she finishes, I am ready with a bucket of water to be mixed with the small sprinkles of the coconut fruit. I must squeeze them to produce coconut milk. Normally, the first coconut milk produced from this process is the dense one. This is the best coconut milk to make kolak. However, the second process is still possible to produce the less dense one either to be added to kolak or used for other types of cooking like vegetables. Unfortunately, here I could not do this process to get my fresh coconut milk to cook kolak. Yet, the canned coconut milk I got in the small vegetable and fruit store in Ciudad Colon imported it from Indonesia’s neighbor, Thailand, where I trust its quality.
Last but not least, the one who will make the kolak is my mother. She will patiently start with cooking the coconut milk and make sure the dense coconut milk will not be cracked by steering it for certain time until it boils well. Then, she can add palm sugar. Palm sugar is used is not the powder one like sugar made of sugarcane. Its form is a big block. It should be cut into small pieces or even soft ones to help it melt easier. Our family does not need to produce palm sugar which is the process will be more complicated and take more time than producing coconut milk. Palm sugar is widely available in both traditional and modern markets in Indonesia. Lucky I could find it here in Costa Rica.
The very last material is banana. When I studied in Philippines, I could find it. Unfortunately, I could not get it here in Costa Rica. Although Costa Rica is known as banana country who produces and exports banana abroad, I could not find the type of banana I need. The type I need is a bit shorter and fatter than the regular banana widely known here. In my hometown, Balikpapan, East Borneo it is known as pisang sanggar. The texture of this type of banana is more chewy and elastic compared to regular banana which is softer. This type is also not common to be eaten as regular fruit. It has to be cooked. The other well-known way to cook this banana is by frying it either with flour or not. Therefore, I chose to use plantano which is known as pisang tanduk in Indonesia. Its chewy texture is quite close to pisang sanggar.
At the end, for me and my two younger siblings the process to make any food in our family included this kolak needs cooperation. It is not only my mother who must cook alone in the kitchen, but everyone of us: my father, my mother, my two younger siblings: brother and sister, and me. Last thing I would share is my parents always tell me domestic jobs are the works of all members of the family because this family is built together. Kitchen is a place for everyone, not only my mother. Everyone should know how to produce their food. They also always show me and my two siblings that everyone can be a chef both man and woman. This is the value of gender cooperation I learned from my family’s tradition. How about you? Thank you.
