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Lontong
Lontong is an Indonesian dish made of compressed rice cake
Lontong
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 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.[3]

Arem-arem is a smaller version of lontong, filled with A traditional way of serving lontong
vegetables and occasionally meat, eaten as a snack.
Course Main course
The dish is usually served hot or at room temperature with Place of origin Indonesia[1]
peanut sauce-based dishes such as gado-gado, karedok, Region or Java
ketoprak, other traditional salads, and satay.[2] It can be eaten state
as an accompaniment to coconut milk-based soups, such as Associated Indonesia, Malaysia
lontong sayur, soto, gulai and curries.[4] It is also used as an cuisine and Singapore
alternative to vermicelli noodles.
Serving Room temperature
temperature
History Main Compressed rice
ingredients cooked in banana
The origin of lontong is from ketupat. Both are made from the leaf
main ingredient of steamed rice in a banana leaf wrapper or
Variations Various
young coconut leaf. Initially lontong was only considered as
ordinary food. However, after the spread of Islam to Java, the Similar dishes Burasa, ketupat,
tradition of eating lontong and ketupat began. Sunan Kalijaga lemang, lepet
was the first to introduce lontong to Javanese people,
Media: Lontong
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 krupuk crackers.[5][6]

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.

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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.[7] 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. Wrapped lontongs with satay selling
in Java, Indonesia
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, and it depends on
other ingredients to give taste through spices and sauces. Commonly,
lontong serves as a compact alternative to steamed rice. It can be served
with almost any traditional dish recipes as staple food, but often is eaten
Uncooked and cooked
with peanut sauce or coconut milk-based soup.
lontong made in perforated
plastic pouches
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.[4] Lontong sayur is related and quite similar
Unwrapped lontong. Different colors
to Ketupat sayur and is a favourite breakfast menu next to bubur
depend on banana leaf which is
ayam and nasi uduk.
used as the wrapper is a typically
Indonesian lontong
Lontong balap

In 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).[8]

Lontong cap go meh

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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 sayur, lontong rice cake

served with vegetables, tofu, and
Lontong dekem is originated from Pemalang Regency, Central boiled egg in coconut milk soup,
Java. The process involves soaking the lontong in soup until it is with krupuk and sambal, popular in
submerged hence the name dekem meaning "immersion" in Jakarta
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.[9]

Lontong bengkalis

Lontong bengkalis from Bengkalis Regency, Riau, consists of Lontong cap go meh, a Chinese-
lontong, jackfruit soup, and peanut sauce. It is also sprinkled with style (Peranakan) of lontong can be
found around Jakarta.
anchovies and slices of green bird's eye chili.[10]

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).

Lontong kikil

Lontong kikil is lontong serve in spicy cow's trotters soup and vegetables.[4]

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 krubyuk

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Lontong krubyuk is a traditional Karimunjawa dish. The term

lontong krubyuk itself comes from the Javanese language krubyuk
or ngrubyuk means walking in water or puddles. This name
corresponds to the appearance of a dish that contains a lot of
gravy. A serving of lontong krubyuk comes with lontong, half
cooked bean sprouts, sliced celery leaves, shredded chicken stew
and then poured with broth.[11]

Lontong mie
Lontong kupang, a specialty dish of
Lontong mie is one of the popular dishes in Surabaya. It consists Sidoarjo
of slices of lontong, yellow noodles, fried tofu, petis (shrimp paste
sauce), bean sprouts, lento (black-eyed pea fritter) and fried
shallots.[12]

Lontong pical

Lontong pical is a Minang food. It is rice cake with noodles and

vegetables smothered in thin peanut sauce also sprinkled with
krupuk.[13]

Lontong tahu

A lontong dish from Blora, Central Java. It is made of slices of

lontong, fried tofu, and peanut sauce and served in a teak leaf
plate.[14] Lontong pical

Lontong tuyuhan

Lontong tuyuhan is slices of rice cake with chicken and coconut milk soup. It is a delicacy of Rembang
Regency.[15]

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 Arem-arem, filled lontong snack
light yellow-green colored banana leaf. Lontong on the other hand,

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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.[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
Burasa Food portal
Ketupat, a similar dish with container made from weaved janur (young
palm leaves) Indonesia portal
Lemper Malaysia portal
Lepet Singapore portal

References
1. "Lontong (Indonesian rice cakes in banana leaves)" (https://whattocooktoday.com/lontong-rice-cak
e.html). What To Cook Today. 2016-04-01. Retrieved 2018-06-26.
2. Pepy Nasution (October 11, 2010). "Lontong (Indonesian Rice Cake)" (http://indonesiaeats.com/in
donesian-rice-cake-lontong/). Indonesiaeats. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
3. "Sama Tapi Tak Serupa - Ketupat, Lemang & Nasi Impit" (https://www.maggi.com.my/tips-and-trick
s/277/sama-tapi-tak-serupa-ketupat-lemang-nasi-impit). maggi.com.my (in Malay). 14 July 2015.
4. Nyonya Rumah, Julie (2015-09-28). 180 Recipes Complete Menus of Indonesian Kitchens (http
s://books.google.com/books?id=ixhIDwAAQBAJ&q=lontong+Indonesian+rice+cake&pg=PA28) (in
Indonesian). Gramedia Pustaka Utama. ISBN 9786020321103.
5. "Asal-usul Lontong, Kuliner Legendaris Indonesia Lintas Generasi" (https://www.okemom.com/rizk
agusti/o40k07m/mengenal-asal-usul-lontong-kuliner-legendaris-indonesia), okemom
6. "Sejarah Asal Usul Makanan Lontong" (http://www.kumpulansejarah.my.id/2012/03/sejarah-asal-u
sul-makanan-lontong.html?m=1), kumpulansejaraH
7. Ingram, Christine (2003), Rice and Risotto, London, UK: Hermes House, ISBN 1-84309-574-2.
8. "Cara Membuat Lontong Balap Surabaya" (http://www.resepnasional.com/cara-membuat-lontong-
balap-surabaya/). Resep Nasional (in Indonesian).
9. Shop, Nyonya Melly. "Asal-Usul Lontong Kari" (https://www.nyonyamelly.com/blogs/news/1493179
3-asal-usul-lontong-kari). Nyonya Melly Shop. Retrieved 2019-10-21.

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10. Rizky, Theo. "Nikmatnya Sarapan Lontong Bengkalis di Tepi Pantai Raja Kecik" (https://tribunpeka
nbarutravel.tribunnews.com/2022/07/04/nikmatnya-sarapan-lontong-bengkalis-di-tepi-pantai-raja-
kecik). tribunnews.com (in Indonesian). Retrieved 9 May 2023.
11. Setya, Devi. "Mengenang Kartini di Jepara, Ada Lontong Krubyuk yang Khas" (https://food.detik.c
om/info-kuliner/d-4985179/mengenang-kartini-di-jepara-ada-lontong-krubyuk-yang-khas).
detik.com (in Indonesian). Retrieved 10 April 2023.
12. Azizah, Nuril Laili. "9 Tempat Makan Lontong Mi di Surabaya" (https://www.kompas.com/food/rea
d/2022/08/09/070900475/9-tempat-makan-lontong-mi-di-surabaya-harga-mulai-rp-12.000?page=a
ll). kompas.com (in Indonesian). Retrieved 8 April 2023.
13. Utomo, Aris Heru. "Lontong Pical Khas Padang" (https://www.silanews.com/gaya-hidup/pr-209340
1370/lontong-pical-khas-padang-kuliner-yang-mirip-pecel-di-jawa). silanews.com (in Indonesian).
Retrieved 8 April 2023.
14. "Lontong Tahu, Makanan Cepat Saji Ala Blora" (https://www.potretblora.com/2019/11/aa.html).
potretblora.com (in Indonesian). Retrieved 8 April 2023.
15. Daniswari, Dini. "Mengenal Lontong Tuyuhan, Makanan Khas Rembang" (https://regional.kompas.
com/read/2023/01/21/175359178/mengenal-lontong-tuyuhan-makanan-khas-rembang-asal-usul-h
ingga-lokasi?page=all). kompas.com (in Indonesian). Retrieved 8 April 2023.

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