Feast: Heavenly-Banquet

During the time of the Poyya-festival (time of the full-moon) races from all across Heimland, whether friend or foe, will put (most) of their differences aside and celebrate the time of the moon by singing, dancing and cooking scrumptious meals; most commonly the Heavenly-Banquet. The meal is prepared differently by various races, but the most common elements of the meal include:

• A succulent rack of beef cooked to perfection, served with a sauce of almonds, oranges, shrimp-paste, fish-sauce, garlic, ginger, shallots, scallions, palm-sugar, lime-juice, rice-vinegar and cinnamon (roasted for 2 hours).
• A curry of fish, chicken and mutton, served with a salad of vegetables, lentils and fruits with a side of coconut-relish consisting of freshly-grated coconut, red-onions, dried whole chilies, lime-juice, salt and fried fish (curry is cooked for 30 minutes, servings prepared in 5 minutes).
• Rice cooked in salted coconut-milk until the grains turn soft and porridge-like, served with cinnamon and paprika. Accompanied with egg-rolls made from bamboo-shoots, roast pork, shrimp, scallions, water chestnuts, salt, sugar, palm-oil, pepper, cabbage, celery, bulb-onions and broccoli mixed and fried before being topped with a sauce of sweet syrup.
• A spicy stir-fry of shredded wine-soaked bread mixed with vegetables, fried eggs, meats and cheeses. Served with a curry of turmeric, coconut milk, lemongrass, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and bay-leaves. Accompanied with a variety of side dishes including; Serundeng (relish of grated coconut, wine and spices), Urap (vegetables in coconut-dressing), Terikacang (fried anchovies and peanuts), Goreng (fried yams and potatoes caramelized in a spicy sauce), Ayyam (fried chicken and shrimp with chili, cucumber and tomatoes), Perkedels (potato-fritters with shrimp-crackers) and Kuning (steamed cow's brain, fried cow's lung and fried beef-slices) cooked for 20 minutes.
• Maize boiled in stock accompanied by meatballs, a mixed meat curry (beef, pork and lamb), aubergines, onions and heapings of tomato-paste (all of this is then wrapped in a banana-leaf and baked in an oven for 1 hour).
• A seafood broth containing crab, fish, cuttlefish, prawns, crayfish, long-beans, sunflower-seeds, manioc, spinach and tamarind, thickened with root-flour and cooked for 30 minutes.
• A selection of veggies in a pickled sauce served with cylinders of steamed and roasted rice-flour known as Thakkadi (made from rice-flour, finely sliced shallots, chopped curry-leaves and shredded coconut cooked in a spicy mutton and beef stew, dipped in spiced curry) mixed with grated coconut, chopped onions and green-chilies (cooked for 20 minutes).
• A full roasted turkey, stuffed with lemon-rind, spices (including cardamom, chili-pepper, cinnamon and curry-leaves) and herbs. Served on a bed of yellow noodles fried in oil with garlic, onions, shallots, fried prawns, chicken, beef, sliced Bakso (meatballs), chili, cabbages, tomatoes, eggs and tea-leaves and cooked for 3 hours.

Also accompanying every Heavenly-Banquet are the scrumptious sweets: these include Kevum (oil-cakes made with rice-flour, cardamon, treacle, saffron, mung-bean flour, shredded coconut, chickpea-flour, wheat-flour, semolina, chopped nuts and dried raisins made into a paste and deep-fried to a golden brown), Aluwa (diamond-shaped rice-flour pastries), Pappad (thin discs of pastry made with peanut-oil, chili, cumin, garlic, black pepper, baking soda, slaked lime and sugar mixed and fried, served with chocolate-sauce), Bibikkan (rich, cake-like sweets made from grated coconut, coconut-treacle and wheat flour), Kokis (crispy fried biscuits made from rice-flour and coconut-milk), Pushnambu (rich and lavish sweets made from coconut-treacle, wheat-flour, cinnamon, cardamom and sweet cumin), Seenakku (rice-cakes served with grated coconut and thick chocolate-sauce), Aggala (rice-balls flavored with treacle), Aasmi (dumplings made with rice flour and the juice of a leaf called Neolitsea [okra-juice can be used as a substitute], deep fried and topped with pink-colored treacle), Dodol (jelly-like toffees made by a lengthy reduction of coconut milk, thickened with rice-flour and sweetened with palm-treacle), Watalappam (steamed-custard puddings made with coconut-milk, eggs, and palm-sugar), Thala-Guli (balls of sugar mixed with ground sesame and finely grated coconut) and Kirri (sweets made with sweetened milk, sugar-thickened pure cow's milk, cardamom and cashews, served with grated chocolate). Along with sweets and treats, there are an assortment of drinks: Faloodah (a sweet beverage made with rose-syrup, vermicelli, sweet basil, wheat, arrowroot, cornstarch, sago and pieces of jelly with milk, often topped off with a scoop of thick heavy cream), Koththamalli (a spiced tea mixed with 1.5 cups of dried coriander seeds, 6 cups of water, 3 slices of fresh cloves, one tablespoon of ginger-powder, 15 black peppercorns, cane-sugar, treacle and honey), Chai (a flavored beverage made by brewing black tea with a mixture of ginger, cinnamon, star-anise, fennel seeds, peppercorn, nutmeg, cloves, nutmeg, mace, black cardamom, chili, coriander, rose petals, cumin and licorice-root), and Elle (an alcoholic beverage created from the sap of palmyra, date-palms and coconut-palms mixed with green cardamom, rose-water and saffron).
The Heavenly-Banquet is made to bring the races of Heimland together and to, maybe, make them forget about how much they may hate each other, even just for one night. No matter how different the races may be, they can all agree on one thing; food is a universal language, good food is a universal song.