CONVERGENCE JULY - AUGUST 2016

Food Indulgence
LONTONG
Malaysians love eating rice and it is shown in the
number of rice dishes we have which includes lontong.
This Indonesian rice dish is cooked using long-grain
rice wrapped and cooked in banana leaves. It is slightly
greenish in colour as the rice takes the colour from
the banana leaves. The dish is usually eaten with a
vegetable stew or coconut milk-infused soups.
PINEAPPLE TARTS
These buttery and flaky delicacies are usually available
all-year round at large bakeries in town. However, you
will see rows of freshly-made pineapple tart in bottles
with its trademark red lid only during festive occasions
such as Raya, Chinese New Year or Deepavali in
Malaysia. The treat often comes in three shapes —
jam-filled spheres, a flat, open tart topped with
pineapple jam under a lattice of pastry or rolls filled
with jam that is bursting at both ends.
The pastry consists of a large proportion of butter
and egg yolk which leaves you with crumbs both in
your hands or sticking around your mouth especially
with that melt-in-the-mouth texture. The jam is usually
made by slowly reducing and caramelising grated
fresh pineapple that has been mixed with sugar and
spices which are cinnamon, star anise and cloves.
LEMANG
Lemang is a combination of glutinous rice and coconut
milk that is pushed into the cavity of a bamboo joint
and 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
is 'well done'. Once cooked and cooled, the bamboo
is split open, exposing the creamy cylinder-shaped
rice wrapped in banana leaves. The whole process
usually takes between three and four hours. The
lemang is then sliced into discs and served with a
rendang of your choice.
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