Indonesian rice cakes in banana leaves (lontong) - updated

Step 1

Clean the banana leaves with clean damp cloth before using. Cut 7-8 pieces of 10" (25 cm) in width. Warm them up a little bit on an open fire briefly. This helps the banana leaves to stay soft and avoid cracking. Just be careful not to burn your hands

Step 2

Roll each leaf (lengthwise with the green shiny side in, so your lontong will have slightly greenish color) into a cylinder with a diameter of about 3 inches (8 cm). You can go down to 6 inches too. I think this is a perfect size without being too big or too small. Bigger rolls will require longer cooking time

Step 3

Secure one of the end with toothpicks. Fill out each log with rice. The amount of rice depends on the length of your rolls. If you have a 20-cm roll in length, you want to fill up the rice below half of 20 cm, which is about 10 cm. This will make sure you won't have tough lontong and your lontong will not burst because rice expands as it cooks. Continue until you use up all the rice

Step 4

Prepare a big pot with some water. Place the lontong inside the pot. They will tend to float at first, but slowly submerge them and try not to overcrowd the pot. If your pot is tall enough to let them cook in standing position, that's great. You save more space and can cook more. But if not, don't worry, you can still cook them in "sleeping" position. But I won't crowd the pot. Probably cook 4-5 pieces. Bring the water to a boil and then lower the heat to let it gently simmer

Step 5

Cook for minimum of 3 hours with the lid on. If you make bigger rolls, you may need 4-6 hours

Step 6

They may appear soft when you just pull them out from the pot and think you have a failed product, but they will be that way. I let them cool for about one hour before opening and slicing them and they are just firm enough without being tough

Step 7

Do not cut the lontong until they are completely cool. Slice the lontong with wet knife to make your life easier :) They can be kept in refrigerator, wrapped nicely in plastic wrapper for up to one week and months in freezer