Traditional Sarawak Cakes for Ramadan

"The AROMA of cooking butter and charcoal fire in the air made us want Raya to arrive faster." This was how we felt during the fasting month in Kampong Nyabor in Sibu.

These days many Sarawakians have forgotten about the practice of having a Kek Kepala Meja for Raya.

I grew up in Kampong Nyabor in Sibu and enjoyed all the expectations and preparations for the Hari Raya together with my family helper, Kak who lived just five doors away. She was truly a good friend of our family. When my father passed away she came to the house for three days, crying together with my mother.

Single and elderly she thought highly of my parents. My father was like a brother to her.

slices of kek lumut

Muslim tradition. Head of the Table Cake or Kek Kepala Meja

Kak would cut her square kek lumut and pile some slices on top of the cake. She used the old brass acuan to make her cakes slowly, over a slow charcoal fire. The aroma of butter mixed with charcoal would just make us want Raya to come faster.

One of the cakes she liked to make was the Kek Lumut, the green cake which was full of butter, eggs and coconut milk. It was very long lasting. I remember two weeks after the Raya she still had some slices left on the table.