MELAKA, Oct 17 — For Muslims is some parts of the world, the 10th of the Islamic month of Muharram is a day culturally celebrated by making the Ashura porridge.
Making the porridge is a communal activity, especially among the Malays in the northern, southern and east-coast states of Malaysia.
The cultural heritage is however becoming increasingly forgotten that today such practices are only carried out at certain mosques or surau.
I can still recall memories of my childhood in Kampung Chekok, Pulai Chondong, Kelantan when the villagers would get together to prepare the Ashura porridge come the day of the celebration, every year.
My friends and I would gather around the cauldron where the porridge is cooked, waiting for it to be done. This is indicated when the porridge starts to thicken and turn a deeper shade of caramel. We would scramble to get coconut shells lined with banana leaf which we would use as bowls and pineapple leaves that we would use as spoon.
The taste of that hot and delicious Ashura porridge freshly scooped into a coconut shell bowl is certainly something that I remember well into my adulthood.
Many versions
According to the Fourth Edition of Kamus Dewan, the Ashura porridge is one that is made on the 10th day of Muharram and is made from a variety of ingredients, among them rice, mung beans, onions and various herbs and spices.
There is no set recipe for the Ashura porridge. The ingredients vary from state to state, adapted to the local taste buds and depending on what is easily available in each state.
Mohd Jazlan Salleh, 40, who had been making the Ashura porridge since his teens said that the unique taste of the Ashura porridge is Kelantan is in the herbs and spices contained in the recipe. The herbs and spices are only sold once a year, during Muharram, and can only be obtained from the Siti Khadijah Central Market in Kota Bharu.
He told Bernama that the ingredients needed to make the Kelantan version of the Ashura porridge are beef or chicken, pumpkin, sweet potato, corn, mung beans, onions, lemongrass and black pepper, among others. The consistency is rather thick.
In Melaka and several places in Johor, the Ashura porridge tends to be soupier, similar to the “bubur lambuk” typically enjoyed during the fasting months. The ingredients contain various grains, legumes, vegetables and beef.
“The difference is that the Kelantan Ashura porridge is chewier. It is more like “dodol” than a porridge, such as the soupy ones enjoyed in Melaka and other states,” he explained.
Dodol is a sweet toffee-like sweetmeat made by stirring coconut milk, palm jaggery and rice flour over heat until it forms a gummy-like texture.
In the northern states, the Ashura porridge is typically thick and yellowish. It requires ten ingredients and advocates say that any more or less would make it an entirely different porridge.
Making it
The ingredients for making the Ashura porridge is usually prepared the night before the Day of Ashura. The cooking process would start at around 7am and would continue well into evening.
“It takes about seven to eight hours to stir the Ashura porridge in the cauldron, similar to the process of stirring dodol,” Mohd Jazlan explained.
Civil servant Noor Azmi Hamdan from Merlimau in Jasin, near here, also remembers how merry the Ashura celebration was during his adolescence.
“I remember how we would gather to cook the Ashura porridge at the Merlimau Pasir Mosque at about 10am and the porridge would be about done just before Zohor prayers,” he said.
He said the women would usually do the preparation work such as dicing the onions, shredding the meat, washing the rice and preparing the coconut milk.
The men, meanwhile, would gather the firewood and take turns to stir the ingredients inside the cauldron.
The 53-year-old recalled how there would initially be many men volunteering to stir the porridge.
“However, when the porridge starts to thicken, many would disappear so as to avoid the hard work required to stir it,” he recounted, smiling.
He said the porridge typically took two to four hours to cook, depending on the ingredients used.
Good for a week
Thicker Ashura porridge, like the ones enjoyed in Kelantan, can last up to a week if prepared and stored properly.
To ensure that it lasts that long, my 61-year-old mother, Maznah Awang, recommend that it be cut into squares and laid on trays lined with plastic or banana leaves to dry for a few days, similar to how candied agar or gummy candy is made.
“If we do not dry it properly, it would become slimy and cause stomach ache when eaten,” she explained.
Dried Ashura porridge can be served during tea or as snacks, she said. — Bernama
