When Hari Raya comes around, you may notice many roadside stalls sprouting up like mushrooms after a rain, roasting sticks of bamboo. If you aren’t familiar with this scene, you may be wondering just what they are up to. These sellers are in fact roasting “Lemang” – a traditional Malay Rice cooked in bamboo.
This is a picture of cooked Lemang ready for sale at a stall I visited at Masjid India during the Ramadhan month. It was very popular.
What is Lemang?
Lemang is glutinous rice mixed with coconut milk then compacted into a hollow bamboo rod. It takes skill to ensure that just the right amount of rice is placed inside without it spilling over as it cooks and expands, and also it takes skill to roast it over the fire for hours, to ensure that it cooks evenly or at all!
When cooked, the bamboo is split open and the cooked Lemang is taken out to cool. Once cooled, they are sliced up into slices about 2cm thick and eaten with curries, rendang or popularly with serunding (spicy dried meat floss).
The taste is rich with coconut milk and a subtle flavour of bamboo. Personally, I don’t like it much but I know of people who love it so much they even eat it outside of the festive season!
Popularity: 13% [?]
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Oh wow! I hadn’t heard of Lemang before! It sounds delicious. Rice + coconut milk + roasting over a flame = Foodgasm!
Taste good if dip with curry, I like it
@canarygirl: Thanks for visiting! I’d say its an acquired taste
@mimid3vils: Yep best eaten with curry and something spicy.
That’s one of the (many) things I miss about Malaysia – being able to pick up a couple of lemang from the side of the road and take them home to eat with some curry or rendang.
*aiyah* now I got cravings for lemang!
I hear the gov’t has cracked down on these roadside lemang sellers in favor of the cleaner hawker stalls. Is this true?
I like my lemang eaten with peanut sauce and serunding. Drooling!
This is my absolute weakness. Even if I’m on a diet, I won’t hesitate to stuff my face full with lemang (or ketupat), hahaha
I so love everything made from sticky rice. I wonder whether we can make it the easy way. Without cutting any forest, or lighting the house on fire?
It would be fabulous.
I eat it with white sugar. Or brown sugar. Sometimes with shredded coconut. Or coconut spread – kaya. As sweet dessert.
I love this-just had some recently with some incredibly greasy rendang-so so GOOD!
@Nate: They did try but the lemang sellers are still there!
Typical of everything else lol…
@Farina: As everyone else does too! Thanks for dropping by
@Noobcook: LOL… Definitely bad for dieters!
@Andie: I never thought to eat it with sugar. Must give it a shot some day