Lontong

Lontong is an Indonesian dish made of compressed rice cake in the form of a cylinder wrapped inside a banana leaf, commonly found in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Rice is rolled inside a banana leaf and boiled, then cut into small cakes as a staple food replacement of steamed rice. The texture is similar to those of ''ketupat'', with the difference being that the ''ketupat'' container is made from woven ''janur'' (young coconut leaf) fronds, while ''lontong'' uses banana leaf instead.

It is commonly called ''nasi himpit'' (lit. "pressed rice") in Malaysia, despite being created using other methods.

''Arem-arem'' is a smaller version of ''lontong'', filled with vegetables and occasionally meat, eaten as a snack.

The dish is usually served hot or at room temperature with peanut sauce-based dishes such as ''gado-gado'', ''karedok'', ''ketoprak'', other traditional salads, and satay. It can be eaten as an accompaniment to coconut milk-based soups, such as ''lontong sayur'', '' soto'', ''gulai'' and curries. It is also used as an alternative to vermicelli noodles.

History

The origin of lontong is from ketupat. Both are made from the main ingredient of steamed rice in a banana leaf wrapper or young coconut leaf. Initially lontong was only considered as ordinary food. However, after the spread of Islam to Java, the tradition of eating lontong and ketupat began. Sunan Kalijaga was the first to introduce lontong to Javanese people, including ketupat. This is part of the da'wah carried out by Sunan Kalijaga at that time. Lontong is often served with Gulai sauce and vegetables, chayote, tempeh, tofu, tauco, boiled egg, sambal and crackers.

Preparation

''Lontong'' is traditionally made by boiling the rice until it is partially cooked and packing it tightly into a rolled-up banana leaf. The leaf is secured with ''lidi semat'', wooden needle made from the central rib of coconut leaf, and cooked in boiling water for about 90 minutes. Once the compacted rice has cooled, it can be cut up into bite-sized pieces. Outer parts of ''lontong'' usually have greenish color because of the chlorophyll left by banana leaf rubbing off on rice cake surface.

Alternative ways of cooking ''lontong'' include placing uncooked rice into a muslin bag then letting the water seep in and cause the rice to form a solid mass. Another popular and easier method is by using commercially available plastic pouches; rice-filled and punctured with needle to create small holes to allow the water to seep into the package, which are then boiled until the rice becomes cooked and have fully filled up the pouch. This method was meant to imitate the banana leaf's liquid permeability. Nevertheless, the use of organic banana leaf is highly recommended for better health and ecological reasons.

On the other hand, Malaysian ''nasi himpit'' (lit. "pressed rice") is traditionally created differently. The method is more a mechanical pressure than applying permeable boiling technique; freshly cooked rice is compressed for a few hours between two heavy stone slabs or two trays with a heavy weight on top to produce ''nasi himpit''. However, ''nasi himpit'' is now usually speedily produced in water permeable plastic sachets filled with rice and boiled in water.

Dishes

Just like rice, the taste of ''lontong'' is bland and neutral, it depends on other ingredients to give taste through spices and sauces. Commonly, ''lontong'' serves as the compact alternative of steamed rice. It can be served with almost any traditional dish recipes as staple food, but mostly have peanut sauce or coconut milk-based soup.

Indonesia

Lontong sayur

In Indonesia, especially among Betawi people, lontong usually served as ''lontong sayur'', pieces of lontong served in coconut milk soup with shredded chayote, tempeh, tofu, hard-boiled egg, ''sambal'' and ''kerupuk''. ''Lontong sayur'' is related and quite similar to '' Ketupat sayur'' and is a favourite breakfast menu next to ''bubur ayam'' and ''nasi uduk''.

Lontong cap go meh

The more elaborate recipe of ''lontong'' is ''lontong cap go meh'', a Peranakan Chinese Indonesian adaptation on traditional Indonesian dishes, lontong served with rich ''opor ayam'', ''sayur lodeh'', ''sambal goreng ati'' (beef liver in sambal), acar, ''telur pindang'' (hard boiled tea egg), ''abon'' (beef floss), and ''koya'' powder (mixture of soy and dried shrimp powder). ''Lontong cap go meh'' usually consumed by Chinese Indonesian community during ''Cap go meh'' celebration.

Lontong dekem

Lontong dekem is originated from Pemalang Regency, Central Java. The process involves soaking the lontong in soup until it is submerged hence the name ''dekem'' meaning "immersion" in Pemalang Javanese dialect.

Lontong kari

''Lontong kari'' is lontong serve in soupy chicken curry and vegetables. Kari was first brought to Indonesia by Buddhist monks from India.

Lontong kikil

''Lontong kikil'' is lontong serve in spicy cow's trotters soup and vegetables.

Lontong kupang

Another lontong recipes are ''lontong kupang'' and ''lontong balap'' from Surabaya and Sidoarjo area in East Java. ''Lontong kupang'' is made of ''lontong'' served with small white clams.

Lontong balap

Also from Surabaya, ''lontong balap'' is made from ''lontong'', ''taoge'' (bean sprouts), fried tofu, ''lentho'' (fried mashed beans), fried shallots, ''sambal petis'' and sweet soy sauce. East Javanese ''lontong'' and ''tofu'' recipes are known of their distinctive flavour, acquired from generous amount of ''petis'' (a type of shrimp paste).

Lontong gulai pakis

In West Sumatra, a Minang dish from Padang Pariaman is called ''lontong gulai pakis'', lontong served with young fern leaves ''gulai''. Usually served with hard boiled eggs and ''kerupuk jangek'' or ''krupuk kulit'' (cow skin crackers).

Arem-arem

''Arem-arem'' is the smaller size ''lontong'' filled with diced vegetables such as carrot, common bean and potato seasoned with salt and red chili, or tofu, ''oncom'' and tempeh; sometimes also filled with minced meat or ''abon'' (beef floss), are eaten as snack. The rice is flavored with coconut milk. This kind of snack is called ''arem-arem'' in Javanese, but commonly called simply as ''lontong'' or ''lontong isi'' in other parts of Indonesia. It is a common snack in Java, and quite similar to ''lemper'', but use common rice instead of sticky rice ''lemper''. It usually uses thin young banana leaf as wrapper, a thin light yellow-green colored banana leaf. ''Lontong'' on the other hand, usually uses thicker mature banana leaf. The texture of ''arem-arem'' snack is softer compared to those of common ''lontong'', due to thinner banana leaf, addition of coconut milk and prolonged boiling and steaming period.

Malaysia and Singapore

It is commonly called ''nasi himpit'' (lit. "pressed rice") in Malaysia, and unlike lontong, ''nasi himpit'' is created by pressing rice overnight. The ''lontong'' rice cake is cut into smaller pieces, these rice cakes pieces are known as ''nasi himpit'' (compressed rice). The term ''lontong'' in Malaysia and Singapore usually refers a dish which consists of rice cakes in a coconut based soup such as ''sayur lodeh'' containing shrimp and vegetables like chopped cabbage, turnip and carrots. Additional condiments are added either during cooking or in individual servings. These include things such as fried tempeh, fried tofu, boiled eggs, dried cuttlefish sambal, fried spicy shredded coconut (''serunding kelapa''), fried chicken etc.

''Nasi himpit'' is also an accompaniment to satay and eaten with peanut sauce. In the east coast states of Peninsular Malaysia, ''nasi himpit'' is eaten with peanut sauce (''kuah kacang'') for breakfast. ''Nasi himpit'' is also one of the ingredients in the Malaysian version of chicken ''soto''.

See also

* ''Burasa''
* ''Ketupat'', a similar dish with container made from weaved ''janur'' (young palm leaves)
* ''Lemper''
* ''Lepet''

References

{{Singaporean cuisine

Indonesian snack foods
Indonesian rice dishes
Javanese cuisine
Malay cuisine
Malaysian cuisine
Cocossian cuisine