Lontong is a Southeast Asian dish

made of compressed rice cake in the

form of a cylinder wrapped inside
a banana leaf,[1][2] 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
weaved 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. [3]
Arem-arem is the smaller version
of lontong filled with vegetables
(carrot, common bean and potato)
occasionally also filled with meat as a
snack.
The dish is usually served cold or at
room temperature with peanut sauce-
based dishes such as gado-
gado, karedok, ketoprak, other
traditional salads, and satay.[2] It can
be eaten as an accompaniment
to coconut milk-based soups, such
as lontong
sayur, soto, gulai and curries.[4] It is
also used as an alternative to
vermicelli noodles.

Contents
 1Preparation
 2Dishes
o2.1Indonesia
2.1.1Lontong sayur


2.1.2Lontong Cap Go Meh



2.1.3Lontong dekem


2.1.4Lontong kari


2.1.5Lontong kikil


2.1.6Lontong kupang


2.1.7Lontong balap


2.1.8Lontong gulai pakis



2.1.9Arem-arem


o2.2Malaysia and Singapore

 3See also
 4References
Preparation[edit]
Wrapped lontongs with satay selling
in Java, Indonesia

Uncooked and cooked lontong made

in perforated plastic pouches
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 rub off
on rice cake surface.

Unwrapped lontong. Different colors

depend on banana leaf which is used
as the wrapper is a typically
Indonesian lontong
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.[5] 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[citation needed] and
ecological reasons[dubious – discuss].
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[edit]
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[edit]
Lontong sayur[edit]

Lontong sayur, lontong rice cake

served with vegetables, tofu, and
boiled egg in coconut milk soup,
with krupuk and sambal, popular in
Jakarta
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.[4] 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[edit]
Main article: Lontong Cap Go Meh

Lontong Cap Go Meh, a Chinese

style (peranakan) of lontong can be
found around Jakarta
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[edit]
Main article: 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[edit]
Lontong kari is lontong serve in
soupy chicken curry and vegetables.
Lontong kikil[edit]
Lontong kikil is lontong serve in
spicy cow's trotters soup and
vegetables.[4]
Lontong kupang[edit]
Another lontong recipes are lontong
kupang and lontong
balap from Surabaya and Sidoarjo ar
ea in East Java. Lontong kupang is
made of lontong served with small
white clams.
Lontong balap[edit]
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).[6]
Lontong gulai pakis[edit]
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[edit]
Main article: Arem-arem

Arem-arem, filled lontong snack

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[edit]
It is commonly called nasi himpit (lit.
"pressed rice") in Malaysia, and
unlike lontong, nasi himpit is created
by pressing rice
overnight.[3] 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[edit]
 Burasa
 Ketupat, a similar dish with
container made from
weaved janur (young palm leaves)
 Lemper
 Lepet
References[edit]
1. ^ Jump up to:a b "Lontong
(Indonesian rice cakes in banana
leaves)". What To Cook Today.
2016-04-01. Retrieved 2018-06-
26.
2. ^ Jump up to:a b Pepy Nasution
(October 11, 2010). "Lontong
(Indonesian Rice Cake)".
Indonesiaeats. Retrieved 28
September 2012.
3. ^ Jump up to:a b "Sama Tapi
Tak Serupa - Ketupat, Lemang &
Nasi Impit". maggi.com.my (in
Malay). 14 July 2015.
4. ^ Jump up to:a b c 'Nyonya
Rumah', Julie (2015-09-28). 180
Recipes Complete Menus of
Indonesian Kitchens (in
Indonesian). Gramedia Pustaka
Utama. ISBN 9786020321103.
5. ^ Ingram, Christine
(2003), Rice and Risotto, London,
UK: Hermes House, ISBN 1-
84309-574-2.
6. ^ "Cara Membuat Lontong
Balap Surabaya". Resep
Nasional (in Indonesian).