Top 10 most popular Hari Raya Goodies

The month of Ramadan is a special one for the Muslim communities all around the world. They fast from dawn to dusk during this holy month to get blessings from the almighty. There’s a festival celebrated by these communities around the globe when the month of Ramadan ends. The celebration is widely known as Eid-ul-Fitr. The Muslims in Singapore and Malaysia usually refer to this festival as Hari Raya Puasa.

 

For a typical Muslim here, the day of Hari Raya starts with prayers in mosques with family members early in the morning. To celebrate the festival they put on new clothes, thoroughly clean their houses and decorate them. On this day, Muslims will have a meal in the daylight for the first time after fasting for a month-long. So food plays a vital role in the celebration. Delicious foods like rendang, ketupat, cakes and confectionery are served all throughout the day. These foods are prepared at home as well as available in stores. Here, we will take a look at some of the most popular Hari Raya goodies around.

 

People call them Dahlia cookies/biscuits because of their similarity to the Dahlia flower. They are also known as custard butter cookies. Whatever the name may be, it is a traditional cookie served during the Hari Raya. Because of it’s sweet & buttery taste as well as the easily meltable texture, you might get the feeling of biting a flower! Just like the name suggests, custard powder along with some other ingredients like food colouring and red cherries are used to prepare these popular Hari Raya cookies. Some modern renditions include Strawberry and Nutella flavour as well.

 

This is another favourite for Singaporeans. This cookie is not only a common sight during Hari Raya. It is also popularly eaten during other festivals such as Chinese New Year and Deepavali celebrations. The main ingredient of this crunchy cookie is just like the name suggests, Tapioca flour. However, another name for this item is “Coconut Cream Cookies”, hence there is also the important presence of coconut among the other ingredients.

 

This pinkish, swirly, savoury cookie can add special value to the Hari Raya goodies. These cookies have beautiful marble-like patterns on their outer layer. They are amazing to look at and are also delicious as well. The ingredients include cocoa powder, flour, butter, icing sugar, and melted chocolate.

 

Just like Kuih Bangkit, this is another “goes with every occasion item” in our list. To be honest, this is the most popular and traditional cookie in the region. I mean, seriously, who doesn’t like to have a pineapple tart here in Singapore? Whatever we write about this delicacy just wouldn’t be enough. To put things into a single sentence, this pineapple jam filled addictive cookie is a must-have one for any occasion including Hari Raya.

 

These cookies are almost identical to Dahlia biscuits. They are made of wheat flour, cornflour, custard powder, sugar and margarine. The sprinkler shaped cookies also resemble a flower. But instead of the cherry, a little amount of jelly is used in the middle to enhance the aesthetics. These traditional delights are often experimented with ingredients like orange pastes to bring a change to the flavour. 

 

Just like pineapple tarts and kuih bangkit, the Love Letter is another item you can rely on to serve to your guests at any special occasions. They are widely available at bakeries, confectionery shops and even supermarkets all year round. Coconut milk is among the main ingredients along with eggs, rice flour and glutinous rice flour. The sweet and savoury taste as well as its crunchy texture are the defining characteristics that make a good love letter.

 

There are lots of banana and almond lovers out there. If you’re one of them, this goodie is just for you. Rich in nutrients, this item does not use any processed sugar as the sweetness comes from the natural bananas. This makes the cookie a perfect snack to serve any diabetic or sugar intake cautious person.

 

You might have guessed it from the name, and yes, this is a modified version of pineapple tart. The pineapple tart is so popular that continuous experiments are carried out to improve the taste and variety of the tarts. The nutella tart is one of the popular outcomes of the experiments. To get a different taste with the same texture, Nutella is used instead of the usual pineapple jam fillings. There are other variations to this as well, including Mala tarts and Cheese tarts.

 

Just like the sugar conscious or sugar intolerant people in your guest list, there might be people who would like to avoid gluten. These crispy, brown colour cookies are the perfect solution. While the cookies are sweet, tangy and delicious, Coconut and Lime Cookies are also gluten-free at the same time.

 

The last entry in popular Hari Raya goodies is a soft cake known as Tapak Kuda. The shape of the cake is identical to a horseshoe, which is how its name came about. Although the batter used is similar to the ones other typical cakes use, what makes it stand out from others is the filling. The filling is not standard per se and the more common fillings include Nutella, Strawberry jam and hazelnut jam.

 

Hari Raya Puasa 2020 is approaching and Muslims will celebrate it in the last week of May 2020. What’s your plan for the upcoming festival? Which goodies are you planning to have during the festival? Decide soon, because no festival is complete without the perfect food!