What is Lontong?

Lontong is a compressed rice cake that is popular in Malaysia and Indonesia. Its ingredients consist of compressed rice, carrots, beans, potatoes and meat and are usually consumed by soups, stews, curry and salads. These types of rice meals are generally consumed as refreshments and can be purchased in many Asian food stores and food trolleys selling Asian fares. Any type of rice can be used to prepare this meal, but many chefs prefer to use long -colored Basmati rice. This type of rice is easier to compress and creates a firmer rice cake. The heat is then refused and the rice is cooked for about 10 minutes. The pot is removed from the heat and put it aside for a while to absorb water and cool the rice. Cooked rice is collected out and placed on a well -washed banana leaf. The leaf is firmly rolled into the cylinder and both ends are folded and secured with a clove or toothpick.

Banana leaf cylinder is cooked for about two hours. This process causes the banana leaf to shrink and compress rice. The cylinders are then removed from hot water and left to cool. The banana sheet is developed and discarded and compressed rice roll is cut into small ready to eat.

If banana leaves are not available, Lontong can be made using steel molds or aluminum foils; Steel forms are available in many Asian food stores. If it cooks with aluminum foil, it will be necessary to write several holes in the foil after rice overturning. The holes allow hot water to penetrate inside and cook the rice.

Lontong can be consumed with bakso , which is Indonesian soup made with Masabally. Another favorite Indonesian meal is Satay or Sate, which is grilled, skewers in peanut sauce. Typically Malaysian meals that are consumed with lontong are Sayur boat , which is steamed meat made of vegetables and coconut and rendAng , which is spicy curry and coconut curry.

A relatively similar compressed rice bowl is ketupat, but here the rice is packed in palm leaves. The shape of the rice cake is made of a square instead of cylindrical. Ketupat is served and consumed in almost the same way as Lontong.