kolak — East Java, Indonesia

Kolak is an Indonesian dessert built on coconut milk sweetened with palm sugar and scented with pandan leaves, into which pieces of fruit, vegetables or tubers are simmered until soft. The result is a warm, fragrant compote somewhere between a soup and a stew of sweet ingredients, eaten with a spoon straight from the bowl. The dessert is reported from East Java and more widely across Indonesia, where it holds a place in the meals that break the daily fast during Ramadan. Households gather in the evening for buka puasa, and kolak is one of the dishes commonly set out at that time, alongside dates and other sweets, though it is also made outside of that season. To prepare it, coconut milk is heated gently with palm sugar and knotted pandan leaves until the sugar dissolves and the liquid is fragrant. Firm ingredients that need longer cooking, such as cassava, sweet potato or pumpkin, go in first and simmer until tender, followed by softer additions like ripe banana, jackfruit or tapioca pearls added toward the end so they do not break apart. The dessert is served warm or at room temperature, ladled into bowls with plenty of the coconut broth. This East Java version centres on banana as the everyday choice, known locally as kolak pisang, while other households build the same base with pumpkin, sweet potato, jackfruit, plantain or cassava depending on the season and what is on hand, all kept together by the same coconut and palm sugar broth.