LEMANG OR GLUTINOUS RICE COOKED IN BAMBOO - A GUEST POST

Continuing with my sporadic series of guest posts, today it is an absolute honor and delight for me to introduce you to fellow foodblogger, Maylasian expat and Perth resident Lisa H. who lauched "From My Lemony Kitchen" in February 2009.

Although, her site was meant to be a private food journal rather than a public one, after a year of existence she decided to share her stories as well as recipes with the rest of the world. I am extremely thankful for her change of mind as this woman is very gifted and has a lot to give.

"From My Lemony Kitchen" is a jewel of a blog, especially for if you are a big fan of Southeast Asian cuisine like me and love the wonderfully spicy dishes which hail from that captivating region of the Far East. For our biggest pleasure, Lisa offers many exhaliratingly fragrant family as well as traditional recipes that a part of her heritage, but she also likes to share her Western- and Oriental-style creations (macarons, tarts, Chinese dumplings, chicken tikka, Hollandaise sauce, Goan curry, etc...) with us. And as if was not enough, her talent does not only limitate itself to cooking or baking; Lisa is a great photographer too.

Thanks for making us discover your rich universe!

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When I received an invite from Rosa, we had just started our Eid celebration, which marked the end of the fasting period (a month). Coincidently, during the celebrations, I was in the middle of "experimenting" with this traditional and unique "must-have" dish originating from Malaysia where I grew up and which is known under the name of "Lemang" (pronounce "le – mung").

Thank you, Rosa for inviting me to write and share my knowledge of Malaysian food with your readers.

Reminiscing about my childhood days in the village… As Eid celebration drew nearer, everyone was busy and every shop buzzing with activity. All parents were busy shopping for new curtains, clothes and shoes, something that thrilled and excited us children to the highest point. Some families even went the extra mile and changed their entire furniture or even their car if they could afford such a luxury.

Everyone did "spring cleaning" and spruced up their gardens. Houses and courtyards were decorated with either homemade kerosene lamps or fairy lights. It felt like an Eastern version of Christmas.

Before the beginning of the Eid, kids in the neighbourhood were allowed to play out 'till late into the night and waves of laughter as well as chattering sounds could be heard as they gathered to play with sparklers or small firecrackers. Meanwhile, the adults would get on with the last-minute preparations. It was such a joyous and wonderful moment… We were all anticipating the end of the fasting month of Ramadan with abated breath.

Early in the morning, on the first day of Eid, children were so excited and eager to put on their new clothes and shoes while waiting impatiently for their parents’ permission to leave the house and have fun. Once outside they roamed the neighbourhood, wishing everyone "Happy Eid" and receiving token coins in return.

To me, Eid is the time to forgive and forget as well as to seek for everyone's forgiveness. It also means that it is an opportunity for me to enjoy the abundance of food that is specially prepared for the occasion. One of them, my favourite, being "Lemang".

"Lemang" is a combination of glutinous rice and coconut milk that is pushed into the cavity of a bamboo joint, is lined with banana leaves. The filled bamboos are then placed standing up nearly vertically in a row, and placed over a slow burning wood fire so that the filling cooks or "roasts". It takes a lot of practice and patience to obtain an evenly cooked "Lemang". The whole process usually takes about 3-4 hours.

Once cooked and cooled, the bamboo is split open, thus exposing the creamy cylindrically shaped glutinous rice wrapped in banana leaves. It is then sliced into discs and served with "Beef Rendang".

As I am living far away from my home country and can't get a hold of bamboo links - plus I doubt my city council and neighbours would be too thrill if I lit up a bonfire in my backyard in order to cook "Lemang" -, I had no other choice than to resort to making my own "Lemang" in its simplest form.

The idea was to achieve the same texture as the original dish - soft creamy glutinous rice, that is slightly crusted on the outside and has the aroma of banana leaves which's essence permeated the glutinous rice - without cooking them it the traditional way.

I hope I have managed to tempt you to experience "Lemang"and indulge in it, albeit the fact that no bamboo is used in the preparation of this dish and despite the fact that this version is not so perfectly cylindrical in shape. Nonetheless, it is "Lemang" to me…

~ Lemang or Glutinous Rice Cooked In Bamboo ~
Recipe by Lisa Ho at "From My Lemony Kitchen...".

Ingredients:
600ml Glutinous Rice, wash and drain off excess water
1 Can (400ml) Coconut cream
200ml Water
1 Screwpine leaf or pandan leaf, knotted
Salt, to taste
Banana leaves
Cooking string

Directions:
1. Put the coconut cream, water, knotted screwpine leaf and salt into a pot. Bring to a quick boil. Add the glutinous rice. Stir until the glutinous rice has absorbed the coconut cream mixture and no liquid is left. Turn off the heat and put it aside to cool.
2. Wipe clean your banana leaves and lay ithem flat on the work surface, with the lines on the leaf running from left to right.
3. Divide the glutinous rice mixture into 5 parts.
4. Ladle the glutinous rice mixture onto the leaves. Roll them into a cylindrical shape and secure both ends with cooking string, making sure there is no tear in the banana leaves.
5. Bring a large pot of water to the boil, and gently submerge the wrapped lemang into the water. Boil for at least 20-30 minutes (this process will further cook the glutinous rice).
6. Preheat the oven to 180° C (350° F).
7. Transfer the lemang into the oven and bake for another 20-25 minutes, until the banana leaf wrappers are slightly dried out.
8. Leave them to cool before slicing.

Serving suggestions:
Serve with "Beef Rendang".

Rosa's Note:
It would also make a great accompaniment to my "Fish Rendang".

"BINGKA SUJI" CAKE - CAKE "KUIH BINGKA"

After having thouroughly explained what "Pandanus" is in my Wednesday post (see link) and now that you know how to make "Pandan Extract/Juice" from scratch, I thought that you might want to put your new knowledge into practice...

About 3 years ago, while surfing on the great and enlightening Kuala Lumpur-based (Maylaysia) site named "Jo's Deli & Bakery" and encountering a gorgeous amount of mindboggling South East Asian and Nonya recipes, I stumbled upon an intriguing recipe which I copied, printed and classified religiously into one of my immense cookery/bakery folders.

After having eyed that recipe for months, I finely decided to buy some pandan leaves in order to prepare that much needed "Pandan Extract/Juice" and baked the promising cake that had already caught my attention in 2005!

The "Semolina Cake" that I'm talking about today is a common treat which is eaten throughout the day in Malaysia. In Asia (the South East Asian part especially), such bite-sized specialities are called "Kuih (Kue or Kueh)" and are, in some distant way, the alter ego of Western creations like cookies, puddings and cakes. On the other hand, they are far from our concept of "pastries" and baked good as "Kuihs" can seem very strange for us Westerner since it is something quite unknown to us.

In the Northern Malaysia states, "Kuihs" are generally sweet, but in the Southeast Peninsular states, they can also be savory. Almost all kuihs are flavored with coconut cream/milk, grated coconut, pandan and palm sugar (Gula Melaka). Their base and texture are confered by starchy ingredients such as rice flour, glutinous rice flour, glutinous rice, tapioca, mung beans (dry flour our pureed) and tapioca flour.

This "Binka Suji" cake is very consistent, yet smooth, moist, spongy and kind of springy. It ressembles and tastes (eggy) very much like a flan or a pudding. The pandan aroma is extremely fragrant, heady and somewhat quite close to vanilla. The delightful flavor of butter is also quite present and adds an interesting dimension to this cake. Not to forget that the "crust" is pleasantly crispy and golden brown...

A "Kuih" that is baked rapidly and which gives fantastic results! Don't zap that recipe. Be courageous enough to attempt a new culinary discovery!

~ Kuih Bingka Suji (Malaysian Semolina Cake) ~
Recipe by Jo at "Jo's Deli & Bakery" and adapted by Rosa @ Rosa's Yummy Yums

Ingredients:

3 Eggs (~53g)

110g Castor sugar

160g Semolina (cream of wheat or sugee)

250ml Concentrated coconut milk

100ml Pandan juice (see recipe)

1/4 Tsp Salt

340ml Water

90g Unsalted butter, melted

30g Plain white flour, sifted

Method:
1. Line the bottom of a 20cm (8 inch) round cake pan with baking paper and grease the sides of the pan with butter.
2. In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar together until the sugar dissolves. Transfer that mixture to a saucepan.
3. Add the semolina/cream of wheat, coconut milk, pandan juice, salt and water into the egg/sugar mixture in the saucepan.

4. Mix and stir constantly with a wooden spoon or a whisk

over medium heat until mixture becomes thick (see remarks).

5. Remove from the heat, add the melted butter and flour. Mix thouroughly and pour the batter into the prepared cake pan.

6. Level the surface of the batter with a spoon or spatula.

7. Bake in the preheated oven at 190° C (375° F) for 1 hour, until golden brown.

8. For the final 1 minute, turn on the grill (top heat) to obtain a crispy golden brown skin.

9. Cool completely on wire rack.

10. Cut and serve.

Remarks:

I used good-quality coconut milk (thick and not too watery), but you can also use coconut cream.
Don't overheat the saucepan, otherwise you'll get "scrambled eggs".
The cooked mixture should ressemble thick porridge.
While using the grill, don't burn the top of your cake.

Serving suggestion:
Serve with a fruit salad that has been aromatized with lime zests.

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~ Bingka Suji (Cake Malaisien A La Semoule) ~
Recette par Jo de "Jo's Deli & Bakery" et adaptée par Rosa @ Rosa's Yummy Yums

Ingrédients:

3 Oeufs (~53g)

110g de Sucre cristallisé

160g de Semoule de blé

250ml de Lait de coco concentré (voir remarques)

100ml de Jus de pandan (extrait fait avec 6-8 feuilles de pandan et de l'eau, voir mon billet)

1/4 Tsp Sel

340ml d'Eau

90g de Beurre fondu

30g de Farine blanche/fleur, tamisée

Méthode:

1. Tapisser le fond d'un moule rond de 20cm avec du papier sulfurisé et beurrer les côtés.
2. Dans un bol, battre les oeufs avec le sucre, jusqu'à ce que ce dernier soit dissout. Transférer ce mélange dans une casserole.
3. Ajouter (dans la casserole) la semoule, le lait de coco, le jus de pandan, le sel et l'eau.

4. Bien mélanger et remuer constamment à l'aide d'une cuillère/spatule en bois ou d'un fouet, jusqu'à ce que le mélange deviennent épais (voir remarques).

5. Retirer du feu, ajouter le beurre et la farine. Mélanger afin d'obtenir une pâte homogène et verser dans le moule.

6. Bien répartir la pâte à l'aide d'une cuillère ou d'une spatule.

7. Cuire dans le four préchauffé à 190° C (375° F) pendant 1 heure, jusqu'à ce que le cake soit doré.

8. Pour la dernière minute de cuisson, allumer le grill (dessus) afin d'obtenir une croûte croustillante et joliment dorée (voir remarques).

9. Laisser refroidir sur une grille.

10. Couper et servir.

Remarques:

J'ai utilisé un lait de coco de qualité supérieure (épais et ne contenant pas trop d'eau), mais vous pouvez aussi utiliser de la crème de coco.
Ne chauffez pas trop le mélange dans la casserole si vous ne voulez pas obtenir des "oeufs brouillés".
Le mélange cuit doit avoir une texture similaire à celle du porridge (épais).
Lorsque vous utilisez le grill, faites attention à ne pas brûler le dessus.

Idées de présentation:
Servez ce cake avec une salade de fruits parfumée avec des zestes de lime.

QUIZ VI - THE ANSWER

So, Ladies and Gentlemen, the moment has come to reveal the identity of that mysterious leaf (see last week's post) which was the cause of all tha brain racking...

Mesdames et Messieurs, voici enfin venu le moment tant attendu de révéler le nom de cette mystérieuse feuille (voir le billet de la semaine passée) qui vous à donner tant de fil à tordre...

No, it wasn't a yuka leaf, a banana leaf nor was it ramp, it was a "Pandan Leaf"!!!

Non, ce n'était pas une feuille de yuka ou de bananier, ni de l'ail des ours, mais bien une "Feuille de Pandan"!!!

Very lately, the new "trend" ingredient in the French blogosphere is "Pandan" (aroma, whether chemical or natural), so I thought that I might "surf on the wave" and put the culinary knowledge of both bloggers and readers to the test. To my surprise, many people actually know what this exotic plants looks like in reality.

Dernièrement, le nouvel ingrédients qui fait sensation dans la blogosphère française est le "Pandan" (arôme naturel ou chimique). De ce fait, j'ai décidé de "prendre le train en marche" et de tester les connaissances culinaires de mes chers blogeurs et lecteurs à ce sujet. A ma grande surprise, beaucoup de vous savent à quoi ressemble cette plante exotique.

I'm not a trendy person myself. If I like or discover something interesting, I generally do it out of such momentary mass movements... When I first go introduced to "Pandan", it was about 13 years ago. Since then, I have been literally addicted and in love to the delightful, subtile and unique fragrance of that wonderful plant!

Je ne suis pas quelqu'un de "in" par définition et je suis rarement les modes. Si j'aime ou découvre quelque chose d'intéressant, ça se passe généralement toujours hors des mouvements de masse... La première fois que j'ai découvert le "Pandan", c'était il y a à peu près 13 ans. Depuis ce jours-là, je n'ai pas arrêté d'être amoureuse et dépendante de l'arôme délicieux, subtil et unique que produit cette merveilleuse plante!

The "Pandanus" ("Daun Pandan" in Indonesian/Malay, "La Dua" in Vietnamese, "Bān Lán" in Mandarin and "Bai Toey" in Thai) is a tropical plant which comes from the screwpine family. It can be found throughout Oceania, Africa, Penninsular South East Asia, Indonesia, Southern India and New Guinea (tropical places). Various species exist...

Le "Pandanus" ("Daun Pandan" en Indonésien/Malais, "La Dua" en Viêtnamien, "Bān Lán" en Mandarin et "Bai Toey" en Thaï) est une plante tropicale de la famille des Pandanaceae. Elle pousse en Océanie, en Afrique, dans tout le Sud Est de l'Asie péninsulaire, en Indonésie, en Inde du sud et en Nouvelle Guinée (pays tropicaux). Différentes espèces existent...

Pandan is said to be a restorative, deodorant plant that promotes a feeling of well-being and acts as a counter to tropical lassitude or as a painkiller. It may be chewed as a breath sweetener or used as a food preservative. It is also said to contain flavanoids which are believed to have a variety of healthful properties (antiviral, anti-allergenic, antiplatelet, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant).

Le "Pandanus" est restorant, déodorant, donne une impression de bien-être et agit contre la fatigue tropicale ou comme un anti-douleur. Les feuilles peuvent être mâchées afin d'avoir bonne haleine ou utilisées pour conserver la nourriture. Elles contiennent aussi des flavanoïdes qui ont des effets bénéfiques sur la santé (propriétés antivirales, anti-allergénique, antiplaquettes, anti-inflammatoires et antioxidantes).

The leaves may be torn into strips, then tied in a knot (to facilitate removal), placed in a cooking liquid (water, coconut milk, etc...) and removed at the end of cooking. They can also be dried or pureed with water. The filtered juice (when pureed) is known as "Pandan Extract or Pandan Juice". One can also find a natural paste or a chemical aroma that replaces the natural extract (it has a similar taste).

Les feuilles de "Pandanus" peuvent être coupées en lanières, attachées par un noeud (pour faciliter le retrait des lanières) qui sera placé dans le liquide de cuisson (eau, lait de noix de coco, etc...) et retiré lorsque la cuisson sera terminée. Elles peuvent aussi être séchées ou réduites en purée avec de l'eau. On appelle alors "Extrait de Pandan" le jus issu du filtrage de cette purée. La "Pâte de Pandan" (naturel) ou l'arôme chimique de "Pandan" remplace aisément l'extrait (sans vraiment avoir le même goût, pour ce qui est du chimique).

The flavor of "Pandan" is hard to describe. It is somewhat sweet, nutty, reminiscent of vanilla, perfumed rice and of freshly cut grass. Anyhow, it smells and taste incredibly good and adds an undescribably pleasant aroma to either savory and sweet dishes (rice, curries, meats, desserts, cakes, beverages, etc...).

La saveur du "Pandan" est difficile à décrire. Son goût est doux, a des relents de noix, de vanille, de riz parfumé et d'herbe fraîchement coupée. Quoi qu'il en soit, le "Pandan" goûte et sent incroyablement bon et apporte un arôme indescriptiblement plaisant à tous les plats salés ou sucrés (riz, curries, viande, desserts, cakes, boissons, etc...).

How to make "Pandan Juice"/Comment fabriquer son "Extrait de Pandan".

Ingredients/Ingrédients:
6 Pandan leaves/Feuilles de pandan
1/2 Cup water/Tasse d'eau

Method/Méthode:
1. In a mixer, blend the leaves with the water./Dans un mixer, réduire les feuilles de pandan en purée avec l'eau.
2. Strain./Filtrer.
3. Squeeze the pureed leaves in order to extract as much juice as possible./Bien égoutter et presser les feuilles réduites en puréee grossière afin d'en extraire le maximum de jus.
4. Pour the juice in freezer boxes and freeze./Verser le jus dans des boîtes pour congeler et entreposer au congélateur.

Remarks/remarques:
The juice extracted can be used to make French crêpes, pancakes, (sponge & chiffon) cakes, bread, etc... If you wish your preparations to look greener, then add some green food coloring./Le jus extrait peut être utilisé afin de faire des crêpes, des pancakes, des gâteaux (éponge & chiffon), du pain, etc... Si vous le désirez, vous pouvez ajouter du colorant vert afin d'obtenir une couleur plus foncée.

Recipe links/Liens (en anglais):
Gourmet Sleuth (see link)
My Malaysian "Kueh Salat" (see recipe)
Recipezaar (see link)

(Pandanus With Iguana - Pic by www.botanik.uni-karlsruhe.de)